Tag: HR

From Old to New to Old: A Reminder About Being ‘Good’ At Our Jobs

Ashok had decided to start his own recruiting firm. He felt he had enough of experience working in the industry and now it was time to start something on his own.

Janki had been thinking about going back to her job as a programmer now that her child had grown up enough. Her industry had undergone massive shifts during her maternal sabbatical, and she had quite a task to do with all the upskilling and re-training that she was going to need.

Ajeet had been a successful architect, having made a name for himself for years, and with many famous projects to his name. But he had now decided to change tracks and start working at an NGO that provided vocational training to the underprivileged.

In all these different cases, there is one thing in common.

You may guess that all of them seem to be people going after their passion. But maybe Janki’s case is just that she wants to get back to working, passion or not, we do not know.

You may guess that all of them seem to be people who are starting something new. Maybe, but Ashok is starting a new recruiting company, but he isn’t unfamiliar with recruiting. Similarly, Janki isn’t completely unfamiliar with programming.

You may guess they are all taking a leap of faith in trying to do something out of their established lives. They are all seeking to venture out of their familiar zones. While that is true, there is one common thing that binds all these cases together, and that is they might take time to get ‘efficient’ at their new ventures.

In their old established jobs, they could put in 20% of effort and would be able to reap 80% of the outcomes. That 80/20 ratio of the Pareto Principle may go for a toss for these people as they undertake something new.

Like we said, they may need more time to get things done. To feel like they actually ‘achieved’ their dreams.

This is a thought a lot of us may have when we think of following what our heart tells us. The world around has trained us for instant gratification. We want instant results and instant effectiveness. We want the results of the Pareto Principle where 20% of our efforts are enough to get 80% of the results.

But the truth is that venturing out of our familiar comfort zones has an initial cost, and that is our time. Learning something new requires our time and we may not get immediately efficient at the task. In those moments, it is tempting to give it all up for the comfort of old efficiency. Ashok may need some time to understand how to manage an entire firm, formulate its policies from the scratch, manage personnel and he may be tempted to go back to his old job where he just had to follow his boss’s policies. Janki may need some time to upskill and understand the new developments in her industry and she may be tempted to go back to her life as a stay-at-home mother. Ajeet may need a lot of time to understand how an NGO works, and it maybe tempting to him to go back to his job as architect where his years of practice come to him automatically.

But what Ashok, Janki, Ajeet (and all of us!) should remember is that their ‘old’ old jobs also required years for them to gain mastery. It was years of experience and hard work that made them an efficient recruiter, earlier programmer and later mother and architect. Years of hands-on experience and hard work for them to achieve the 20/80.

Any new path, any stepping out of comfort zones may not give us instant results. Efficiency takes time to develop. Does that mean we give up?

Of course not!

When we begin something new, the path is rarely easy. In those moments, we might need to give more time to things. We may need to work overtime (and not be a clock-watcher at that!). An old task we have been doing for years may require less time than a new task we have just learnt. But just because we aren’t efficient now, doesn’t mean we cannot get efficient ever!

Getting ‘good’ at any new job, any new venture requires time. Instead of looking back at our old life, the path is to look forward, because soon, this ‘new’ will become ‘old’, meaning, efficiency will soon come to us!

One Question, Three Answers, Three Outlooks

Three different answers to ‘what are you doing?’ can help you to be present, set goals and find meaning.

Can three people be doing the exact same thing, with the exact same tools and still see three different possibilities?

Three brick-layers are doing their job of laying bricks, neatly in a row. Someone asks one brick-layer: ‘What are you doing?’

He responds: ‘I am laying bricks.’

Someone asks the second brick-layer: ‘What are you doing?’

He responds: ‘I am building a wall.’

The third brick-layer gets asks” ‘What are you doing?’

He responds: ‘I am building a house.’

Three different people, doing supposedly the same job, having completely different answers. The beauty is that none of them are wrong.

Having said that, they do point to three different mentalities, which we have to adopt in different situations.

  • The Immediate Present/Task at Hand: The first brick-layer’s answer of ‘I am laying bricks’ is grounded in the immediate reality. No looking forward, no looking backward, and taking things one brick at a time. There are some tasks and situations that demand this kind of a mentality. Stressed about the outcome of something, wondering if it will go according to the plan in your head? We take it one brick at a time, one small task at a time. Not sure what to do next? We take it one brick at a time and eventually, a structure will start building itself. Overwhelmed with a huge seemingly impossible to-do list? We take it one small task at a time, and eventually, the boxes will be checked off.
  • The Larger Perspective/The Point: The second brick-layer’s answer of ‘I am building a wall’ is grounded in planning and setting realistic goals. It looks ahead, and that looking ahead gives the rationale of why something is being done in the first place. And in what sort of situations can we apply such an attitude? Your team is not sure why you are asking them to do a task? Tell them what doing that task will lead to. Your meeting agenda seems to be a list of random things to do? Structure them in a list of tasks, objects and expected results, and see the magic of reason taking over the assignment. Tasks make a hundred times more sense when we understand the point of doing them.
  • The Meaning/That’s What it’s All About: The third brick-layer’s answer of ‘I am building a house’ is grounded in giving meaning to life. It is the grandest of mentality and thus will require a slightly larger (than life) explanation. There are times when whatever we do, we feel it won’t matter. The commute to and from the office, the constant weeks of tasks, the meetings, the overtime- it all just seems to be a waste. Even when we do understand why we are doing something practically (to pay the bills, to finalise that deal, to ace that interview, to streamline the office), we sometimes do not see the point of anything. The reality of the mundane drains us. It is in times like these the third mentality comes in: it forces us back into the big ‘why’ of our choices.  The brick-layer became a brick-layer to build houses. Maybe you became a recruiter to help people find a job that matches their inner calling. Maybe you became a teacher to guide the young folks who are the future of the country. Maybe you went into finance to understand the use of abundance in the right way. Maybe you became a lawyer to give justice to everyone. In the daily office-work we sometimes forget why we were drawn to something in the first place. And when we remind ourselves what’s all this has been about, hope and motivation renew. Laying bricks to build a house.

Every day is not the same, and perhaps we can ask ourselves ‘what are doing?’ and decide the answer that is needed.

Tools that Actually Matter

In a time when external excess and internal emptiness co-exist, a reminder about the ‘tools’ that matter.

image to show the importance of skill vs fancy tools

Sam had called a plumber for a leaking pipe in his kitchen. Soon, a middle-aged man with a faded tool-kit walked in, calmly but purposefully.

As he started working, Sam noticed certain things that made him question this man’s qualifications as a plumber. A wrench with a cracked handle. A saw that had half its part missing. But Sam also noticed something else that left him puzzled- despite these broken tools, the plumber appeared unbothered. In fact, he was doing the work with his characteristic calm and, rather skilfully.

Ten minutes ago, Sam was almost convinced that he had called the wrong man for the job, but soon enough, Sam had to also change his mind. Although he remained puzzled.

The plumber had identified the issue correctly, worked with these seemingly broken tools. The leak was gone and the tap looked as good as new. Impressed and grateful, Sam decided to give the plumber extra money.

The plumber shook his head and refused, further adding to Sam’s puzzlement. ‘Who refuses extra money in this day and age?’

The plumber responded, ‘Every job has a fixed worth. If I take extra money today, I will expect the same or even more tomorrow. When that doesn’t come, I will be disappointed. I prefer to be content with what I have.’

Now Sam’s puzzlement was mixed with admiration and pity. ‘At least buy yourself a new set of tools with this extra money. It will make your life easier.’

The plumber again responded in the negative, saying ‘The tools work perfectly well even though they might be slightly broken or rusted or old. Just like us old people!’ He let out a warm chuckle, which Sam couldn’t help but mirror.

The plumber went on, ‘When you write with a pen, it doesn’t matter if it is a simple pen or an expensive one. If you know how to write, any pen will do. And if you don’t know how to write, no expensive pen in the world will be of any help. The skill lies in the hand, not in the tool.’

The words sank deep. As Sam stared, at the resolute but content face of the plumber, the initial puzzlement and pity were gone, and only admiration was left.

Contemporary times make us race for comfort and wealth. We do what gets us these ‘rewards.’ Everything in excess, nothing being enough. We work long hours for jobs which never really satisfy us. We have bank accounts full of money but we do not feel wealthy or even worthy. We have all the tools- shiny and expensive- yet our outputs always seem to lack that unnameable something. That is probably because we seem to have forgotten the value of the real tools- the tools called:

  • Honesty
  • Hard work
  • Gratitude
  • Contentment

With these intact, even ‘broken tools’ can create miracles and become worthy. Beyond fancy jobs and degrees, it is the work ethic. The work ethic that values honesty and hard work, an attitude that finds gratitude- these ultimately show us what’s worthy. Swanky offices with swankier technology to work with and the swankiest certificates are good but honesty, hard work, gratitude, contentment are the ultimate technology and the ultimate certificates: these are the ‘tools’ that ultimately matter.

Handling the Post-Festival Blues

With a lull in the long stretch of festivities and having to return to the ‘normal’ work routine, are you also experiencing post-festival blues?

As the long Festive spell from August to October, sees a Break, before we enter into Christmas and New Year Festivities, we have a little Lull.

Lull in the festive energies, lull in the mini- and big- office parties. The Navratri and Diwali decorations are slowly being put aside now, and the office suddenly seems too…normal.

Getting back in the groove after a stretch of festivities can be difficult. There is a lingering feeling of wanting a longer break. If you had no break, you at least wish that the office space would suddenly not go back to being so quiet again. We have cases of the ‘post-festival blues’!

Let us have a look at some ways in which we can use our ‘post-festival blues’ to our advantage:

Enjoy the Routine: Breaks often mean our daily routine goes out of the window- slow mornings, long lunches, no deadlines and evenings spent with no plans for the next day. Going back to routine work after a long stretch of festivities can be tiresome. It may need a lot of motivation….at first.

The beauty of routine is that once you actually get back to it, you discover a lost ‘rhythm’. Sometimes, we actually need things to be structured to have a productive day. That daily commute where you gather your thoughts for the day ahead. Or the positive kind of pressure you put on yourself to meet that deadline. Or the ‘eustress’ or the good kind of stress that propels you to innovate and work hard. All this and all other kind of ‘hard work’ helps us to rediscover the rhythm we may have lost during the festive stretches.

Enjoy the Quiet: The sound of the gentle murmurs, the shuffling of papers, the beeps of machines and the tapping of keyboards- the ‘quiet’ office is often considered one of the best environments to work in. After the din of celebrations, a calm, quiet environment in the office means better focus and better productivity. Now is the best time to use this to the best of our advantage after a refreshing break.

But wait, the festivities are not over yet…

If you are someone who just cannot get over the post-festival blues, well, Christmas is not far away! There are more celebrations, breaks in the routine to look forward to. We can also remember that the ‘diya’ within can always remain lit up- it doesn’t have to end with Diwali. So, light up the office space with your bright presence! We can still wish everyone well even without any festival around. We can bask in the abundance of our life through gratitude. We can keep our work area decorated with small reminders of our loved ones. The gifts of kindness and empathy never go out of season. And there is no wrong time to celebrate hard work.

So, are you ready to turn the festival blues into the joyous lights of the productive routine?

Comparison: Not Always a Thief of Joy

image to show good comparison

Ayaan was at a mental space where a lot of us may have been from time to time:

He was having a good day at office. He had been happy with how a team meeting had gone by, and how the next set of objectives was looking like. That good day though was soon engulfed by a gloom. Why? In one of the objectives listed out, he was supposed to have his general manager get in touch with the general manager of one of the client companies he was working with. Who was the general manager of this client company? His own classmate!

He and this classmate had started out together. They had studied from the same university, and had the same certifications. So how was it that the classmate had reached a higher post before him? How was it that Ayaan reported to a general manager, and this classmate himself had become the general manager?

Ayaan was wracking his brain, deep into comparison: ‘How did this classmate’s career progressed more than mine even though we started out at the same time?’ ‘How much does he earn, I wonder?’ ‘Why did he get this opportunity, and how come I did not? How unlucky for me!’ ‘What if I had done that one other course instead of…?’ and so on.

All kinds hows and whys and what ifs were playing in Ayaan’s mind.

They say comparison is the thief of joy.

But is it so that we should never undertake any kind of comparison? After all, sometimes, it is the pressure to excel that motivates us to work harder. It is not a good idea to always be in a bubble, too comfortable in one’s life- that can lead to a lack of growth and wasted potential. Some comparison, some challenge, some striving for getting better is needed.

As James Clear, writer of the book ‘Atomic Habit’ says, comparison of the wrong things is the thief of joy. If one compares the wrong things, it can make one miserable. But if one compares the right things, and actually embraces the challenge to ‘win’ in the comparison at some point, it can lead to growth and improvement.

Ayaan is miserable because he compared the big things, the ‘wrong’ things like career trajectory, income, opportunities got and luck found.

What he can do instead is compare the little things. Little things such as: ‘What would be the classmate’s networking style that led him to this opportunity?’ ‘How does the classmate maintain his composure in such a high-pressure job?’ ‘What does his classmate do when it comes to task and time management?’ ‘What sort of strategies does he use which I can learn from?’

And so on.

Comparing the little things, the right things means comparing the concrete things. Things one can actually understand and learn from. Things which one can actually implement, and hone based on one’s own requirements and needs. Things which we can take under our control. Things which are not governed by luck and one’s life situation.

So yes, comparison of the wrong things is the thief of joy. Comparison of the right things can be fuel for our growth.