People are important but are they cared?

The most talked about and the most neglected aspect in many companies is the “people.” Sounds ironic, isn’t it? Yes, I’ll explain. Companies spend enormous amounts of money, time, and resources on technology without realizing that the end users are the people. Managing people is a challenge and companies are slowly realizing that they are the assets in the long run. Top notch companies reward their employees and make them part of their success along with satisfying the customer. This has paid rich dividends in case of many technology companies wherein the concept of ‘Employee Stock Options’ is used as one of the instruments to keep the employee happy and committed. The key in people management is that there has to be a mutual trust between the employer and employee. Japanese companies pioneered the idea of lifelong employment, which makes sure that the element of job insecurity is ruled out. This makes the employee put in his heart and soul for the company.

People first

Every Organization has to realize that people are its greatest asset. In the present difficult situation what makes one stand apart from others is how they make the best use of this asset. It is the people who fuel and accelerate the entire organization and create value for it. Whenever I see people around me working happily they give more than asked for. It has been accepted that apart from the technology and other support, it is the human factor, which differentiates organizations. The focus and number one priority will have to be people management. Honoring performance, motivation, and solving conflicts may fall under it. Start-ups, small, and medium companies, a lot of effort goes into planning on how to manage its people especially during difficult times. Effective people management is considered as one of the most essential management skills.

People management strategy and reward

If you are feeling that the innovation team is not doing anything worthwhile to contribute to the company’s bottom line, and then start looking for some answers. For innovative ideas to progress and prosper there should be effective people management strategies in place. People inside the company should acknowledge that there exists a good people management strategy. Many times people are not even aware that there exists a strategy and at the next level even if it exists they are not sure how it helps them. People should be rewarded justly for their creative juices to be flowing. Remember one good innovative idea can change the fortunes of the company.

The need for formal management - MBA

By using authority and force one may be able to take work out of his subordinates, but the quality of a MBA is that he not only is able to get work out of people but brings the best out of his team. He knows how to motivate his subordinates, which team member, will fit into which type of job. The MBA help in using the authority to motivate the team members rather than subjugate the team members. MBA helps in producing better managers as they are taught how to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the team.

Sports Captain and People Manager

Can you imagine a team is playing cricket without a Captain. There is going to be a total chaos. Who is going to decide the order of batting and bowling? The Captain knows who will be more effective in which situation. When in challenging situation during the game the Captain consults his experienced team members to get a quick decision and the game continues.
We draw a similar analogy with People Manager. People Manager’s knows the strength and weakness of their team members. People Manager is good reader of difficult situations. In which case he decides which task should be given to whom depending on the expertise available in his team. Regular meetings are held to review the progress and make changes to the plan if required.
The sports Captain tell his choice of player to play against a certain competition. So the team composition is made generally by keeping the competition in mind. Similarly, a People Manager in a company should pick his team based on the task ahead.

Managing people in times of recession.

Managing people in times of recession is very challenging. Interestingly the challenges that one faces in managing people in good times and in recession are the same but with a different outcome or end goals.
During good times the employees call the shots. Senior management and in particular human resource department needs to find ways to retain talent. Employees are happy, and are in good state of mind which invariably produces good results. Employees are continuously looking for self-satisfaction.
During the recession period the people are not in a good state of mind, they are very worried of the future. They work in fear of losing jobs, this shows-up in the quality of the output.
So, managing people in these two periods are quite different. It is important that during the recession period, managing people should be done with utmost care. If not done properly, it seems as though there is no obvious impact on the company in the short-term, however in the long-term there would be clear impact.

Characterizing the creative class (Excerpts from “Creativity” by Mihaly)

Continued from Feb 09 blog…
If that person is so taken with his domain that he fails to take our wishes into account we call him “insensitive” or “selfish” even though such attitudes are far from his mind. Similarly, if he pursues his work regardless of other people’s plans, we call him “ruthless.” Yet a change in it without dedicating all of one’s attention to it and thereby appearing to be arrogant, selfish, and ruthless to those who believe they have a right to the creative person’s attention.
Creative people are neither single-minded, specialized, nor selfish. Indeed, they seem to be the opposite: They love to make connections with adjacent areas of knowledge. They tend to be – in principle caring and sensitive. Yet the demands of their role inevitably push them toward specialization and selfishness. Of the many paradoxes of creativity, this is perhaps the most difficult to avoid.

Understanding the creative class (Excerpts from “Creativity” by Mihaly)

Understanding the characteristics of creative people is an important topic that one needs to recognize and consider. Many misunderstanding are sorted out by understanding some of these behaviors.
Creative individuals are often considered odd – or even arrogant, selfish and ruthless. It is important to keep in mind that these are not traits of creative people, but traits that the rest of us attribute to them on the basis of our perceptions. When we meet a person who focuses all of his attention on physics or music and ignores us and forgets our names, we call that person “arrogant” even though he may be extremely humble and friendly if he could only spare attention from his pursuit.

Managing remote teams

Some of the aspects that need special attention in managing remote teams
• Acknowledge cultural differences
• Time perception
• Flexible or solid agreements
• Indirect communication versus ‘say it as it is’
• Bosses need to agree versus delegated individual responsibility
• Written conformation versus telephone agreements
• Start with building a relationship versus start to define tasks
• Level of access to information held by higher levels
• Local versus global interests
• Language capabilities of team members