Strengths-based Organization @ End of Jobs - Rethinking Work, Talent and the Future

Pic Credit - Canva

Some moons ago, I was asked by Sheena Rajan from SR Global HR solutions if I would give a short talk on Strengths for an HR event she was organization..  The context - it was to a seminar titled "End of Jobs - Rethinking Work,  Talent & the Future".  Panel discussions and other speakers were also scheduled to cover different aspects of the topic.  

I'm India's First Strengths Strategy Coach and have an organization called "The Strengths Decoder". We help my clients leverage their strengths for success at work and in life. Strengths has been consciously been a strong part of my personal and professional life since the past 10 years.  So I readily agreed.  While the title was interesting, the sub-title of the event intrigued me further, and after a short discussion with Sheena, I decided to speak on "Strengths-based Organizations".  I don't really have a clip of my talk to share, so I'll get into a little more detail about the how and what of my presentation.

Why I chose that topic? Organizations face challenges in finding the right talent, engaging them, grooming them and retaining them.  This is happening at all levels.  With AI being used to replace jobs in every function, is it really the end of jobs? What then, is to become of the organization and it's people. Those left behind will definitely be apprehensive (if not unhappy) about the future.  When a person is unhappy at work, particularly if their strengths are not leveraged in their role, they will not be able to deliver optimum results. In fact, no amount of training can improve this performance.  This will negatively impact the growth and existence of the organization, if it doesn't act quickly.

Peter Drucker said "Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often, people know what they are not good at... and yet, a person can perform only from strengths."

If an organization focuses on leveraging the strengths of its employees to achieve it's goals, it will have happier engaged employees who willingly give of their best, are more productive and are likely to stay longer since they see a strong alignment between their strengths (competencies) and the organizations goals / vision.  Of course, leadership buy-in is a must at all levels, and especially at the top.

Why are Strengths-based organizations important? An organization that works on a foundation of strengths tends to be solution - oriented. The employees are happier since they are getting to do what they enjoy doing. We know that happy and engaged employees are a joy to work with, and that improves collaboration along with ensuring that conflicts get resolved more quickly than otherwise.  This impacts the Organization Culture and Employer Brand positively.  Word of this work culture  and brand spreads, in the same way as it happens for organizations that have a toxic culture. This turns the organization that leverages its people's strength into a Key Talent Attractor.

What's in it for the individual employee (at any level)?  Knowing your strengths (what you're good at) and a clear awareness of your weaknesses (which activities drain you), along with knowing your values, will give you opportunities to explore and reject.  Hiring a Strengths-Strategy Coach helps a lot here.

Some stats that I shared during my presentation: Gallup Research has found that individuals and teams that lead with their strengths are:

• 6 times more engaged
• 3 times more likely to report having excellent quality of life
• 8.9% more profitable

It was a pleasure to meet old friends like Nikhil Gadodia and Milind Rane at this event and share the stage with HR stalwarts like Dr. Brillian S.K., Gauri Das, Govind Sharma and others. It was great to make new friends too.   Here are some pics of the action:

Sheena Rajan delivering the Keynote Speech

With Dr Brillian S.K., Gauri Das and Milind Rane

Panel members being felicitated by Sheena Rajan

Curious about finding out and leveraging yours and your employee's strengths? 

Step 1 - Get management buy-in for this systemic intervention.  This is extremely important since theis impact will be seen after a year or so. 

Step 2 - Use a validated psychometric assessment such as CliftonStrengths, PRISM Brainmapping Inventory, OPQ . Hire a Strengths-based Consultant and Coach (hint: me - call +919820155778) to work with you on this.

Step 3 - Be ready to communicate this intervention, and reconfigure your organization processes to incorporate strengths as a philosophy.

Do get in touch with me on +919820155778 or ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com to understand how knowing and applying one's strengths can help one's career and the organization.

5 Conversations that foster Teamwork in the Workplace

We know that the world moves based on #conversations and #decisions.

Here's a useful article on the kind of conversations that #leaders and #managers could have with their #teams to foster #teamwork at the workplace. You may even want to have some of these conversations as one-to-one sessions for specific effectiveness and outcomes.

From the article - "Consistent communication is essential for #collaboration and performance."

Contact me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or send me a DM here if you want to learn how to make these conversations effective for your teams.

Are we taking Employee Wellbeing too far?

Photo Credit Ryan Barretto Mar 2024

Few people would deny the impact of well-being on the benefit of the organization. This approach tends to get pushed to the back burner for short-term gains (shareholder value?) over the long term growth and survival of the organization, especially when there are leaders or managers with a high need for controlling people and aggressive competitiveness. Hybrid or remote workplaces have only accelerated  these tensions, which then negatively impacts well-being, and the progress of the organization.  

With the above in mind, this article asks an extremely pertinent question, which is it's title.

From the article - "We need to reset the employer/employee relationship. We need to establish clear and fair principles for working in a remote or hybrid world. In a way which sets reasonable expectations for all parties and holds employers and employees to account."

I think the ability to leverage the employees's #strengths in their work will provide huge dividends to the organization and employees.

Your thoughts?

Read the rest of the article here.

5 Things That Separate the Best Workplace Cultures From The Rest

 

Photo Credit : pexels-rdne-8068763

I've heard this line "You have come from a culture? Well, so does bacteria!"

Culture is the make and break of an organization, no matter how brilliant it's people are.  After all culture is defined by the way people work together.  

Let's also not forget that anyone who leads a team at any level of the organization also defines the culture for that team.  This may not often align completely with the culture of the organization. Hence the possibility of conflict and messiness is very real.

Throughout my HR stint, I worked in various organizations in different industries, including a startup.  Each organization had a distinct culture that was driven by those at the top with the most influence on their peers. Some places made it easier for people to work together, others tied up the organization in red tape, and still others had leaders at different levels that made employees ask "who interviewed him / her and what did they see in them that made them select that candidate.

As you can probably tell, leadership and culture has fascinated me for a long time.

Here's a fascinating article that I came across on the things that separate best #workplace #culture from others.

Excerpt - "It's important to note that creating a positive workplace culture is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and attention. That’s the only thing the best and worst cultures have in common."

Read the rest of the article here.

Photo Credit : pexels-minan1398-1313814

The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools?

Recruitment has taken on a slightly different dimension over the past year or so. While it was never easy, it seemed as if we knew who to focus our hiring efforts on.

Here's a detailed article on the changing characteristics of the #talentpool of #candidates given the post pandemic environment, and what organizations could possibly do to hire people.

From the article: " if the economic picture worsens, many companies are likely to find that job openings will persist in crucial positions, a problem they can’t fix by simply reshuffling their current workforces."

Read the rest of the article here.

#hiringstrategy #employeevalueproposition #selectiondiscussion #culturematters #organizationculture #strengthsdecoder #strengthscoaching #performancecoach #performancecoaching #talentacquisition #talentattraction #employeeengagement

The next competitive advantage in talent: Continuous employee listening

#leaders and #managers are often reminded that they should continuously #listen to their #teams . This has lead to team meets, skip level meetings and one-on-one meetings, which of course, consumes loads of time.

This interesting article shows how a consulting organization actually leveraged #analytics and #technology to do this. I wish they provided some inputs about the impact of their amazing and massive effort.

Read the article here.

Worklife Balance - The Art of Balancing Yourself

The stress we face at work and home has been increasing only over the past 15 years, not that it was much less before.  Because of the late hours, working lunches, extended working weekends, and family responsibilities, it's very difficult for folks to find the time to wind down. What aggravates the problem is that many people are caught up in jobs they don't really like doing and delivering results by putting in extra hours like never before.

This has increased over the past four years because the lockdown and the mandatory work from home policy blurred the lines between work and home. Achieving work-life balance seems to be an impossible dream, for most of us.

Photo credit: pexels-michael-judkins-1113552

For clarity - here's a basic definition of work-life balance from Google - "the division of one's time and focus between working and family or leisure activities."

With organizations competing heavily for growth, employees at all levels of organization are being pushed harder than ever before. Some days, you feel it's better to stay in bed and switch off the wi-fi and phone. 

Credit pexels-pixabay-Stay in Bed 271897

Worse - it can lead to a feeling that you are stuck (due to a variety of reasons, particularly financial reasons).

Stuck Lift Button Photo by imustbedead httpswww.pexels.comphotoperson-holding-black-and-white-round-ornament-10835818

There's a lot of literature about work-life balance available online and in books.  Managing the stress that one goes through (at home or at work) is a key theme.  Meditation, diet and exercise are frequently prescribed and they are all effective to the extent that the employee is able to carve out the time to do it diligently. Most don't work on the root cause.

I also like the idea from Marcus Buckingham of doing more of what you love and less of what you don't enjoy. This would have the effect of unbalancing yourself in the direction of the things that you enjoy doing.  Of course, easier said than done, but nevertheless, it is definitely worth attempting. A lot of artists, athletes, business and corporate folk have managed to do this. The example of Mr. Piyush Pandey from the Advertising world comes to mind.

I've an additional viewpoint to offer. 

When I was in the corporate world, there were many days when we worked late in the office, leaving only around 8 pm. I used to sing regularly with my church choir at the time. We would have practices on two weekdays that began and ended late since the singers were all working people.  I recall many days when I attended practices though I was extremely tired from the office day.  

Instead of being exhausted on returning home, I would find that I was energized.  I checked with other singers who also confirmed similar feelings and experiences.  Subsequently, I spoke to other people at work, asking them how they unwound from a tiring day or week.  Each of them had different methds or activities - from listening to music, playing with their pets, going for a long walk or even a jog at night, giving attention to the family members (including kids), working on their hobbies maybe twice or thrice a week, each of which contributed to improving the way they felt about themselves.  

Whatever activity they chose allowed them to use some of their talents that weren't being used sufficiently (or at all) at work.  Sometimes, of course, there was a similarity.

Here's my understanding of this:

We humans are a mix of structured and creative ways of being.  Most of us prefer to have a structured routine on a daily basis, with a few minor changes, because it gives us a sense of comfort. 

All of us are endowed with both skills for both structure and creativity.  Some are wired more towards one side, and our upbringing, education and circumstances (environment) along with our own decisions play a major role in which side we end up using, along with the line of work we choose. 

However, most of our jobs are demanding in a manner that requires us to work in an extremely structured manner in a strongly regulated internal (within the organization) environment that interfaces and interacts with an external environment where regular flux is the name of the game.  This flux increases our work pressure and our stress.  It is compounded by the reality that a solution that worked yesterday (or earlier) will not work sufficiently or as effectively today, and may be completely irrelevant tomorrow. Our jobs also require us to spend extended hours at work on a daily basis, and with remote work, the lines between home and work are quite blurred.  This makes it difficult for us to switch off from work and, has increased the amount of stress we go through.

So what should we be doing to balance ourselves? Here are my suggestions:

• Spend time knowing (really getting to know) your strengths.  You can do this by using a validated psychometric assessment, hire a Strengths Strategy Coach like me and / or getting feedback from people who know you well enough to be honest with you.
• Think about the hobbies where you spent a lot of time while growing up. Identify those hobbies where time just flew by while you were doing it and enjoying it. This would mean that these hobbies are aligned with your strengths.
• Look for opportunities to bring at least two of those hobbies into your current schedule.  This could be daily, weekly, fortnightly. These hobbies shouldn't be easy and should possess a degree of challenge that is sufficient for you to access the Flow Zone.
• Any activity that is less than that frequency would not help you to reduce stress much. Some of my friends who still make time to play football or other physical sports. Others cook meals for their family on Sundays. I sing in my church choir at least twice a month.
• Guard this schedule zealously and jealously, as much as you can.
• Figure out how you could be paid money to do one or more the things you enjoy, so that it becomes your fulltime career and job, instead of something in your spare time.  I have helped my clients make this happen for them and they have more satisfied careers and less stressed lives.
• Initiate a discussion with your reporting manager and HR to plan how to use your strengths more in your job.  I know this is difficult, but it's worth a try.

By doing these things, you stand a better chance of balancing yourself and achieving your work-life balance. 

In the corporate world, the HR team and line managers can look at hiring people based on their strengths so that they will be more engaged while at work.

Want to know more about Balancing Yourself by Using Your Strengths or Identifying a Career based on your strengths? Write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call on +919820155778 for a discussion.

I can read your mind

 https://www.kornferry.com/insights/briefings-magazine/issue-58/i-can-read-your-mind?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=briefings&utm_campaign=03-06-gbl-briefings-issue-58&mkt_tok=NDk0LVZVQy00ODIAAAGKU_JG0PNhx2ZaINDKrkzIUhG5dgw6TGmkUw9q4bSJDXUg2w9nK5ACNFQy0lcaw0ZlalVy49zeS1uZTrKApcCCdIffHbHFS9B_-5Wt64K51Q1J

Fantastic article on the use of #AI to understand what employees may be going through (whether #remote or in office)

From the article "As more uses have come into play, experts say, the field has fueled a research and investment boom. Part of that comes from the normalization of remote and #hybrid work, which has raised a host of concerns among business leaders about productivity and intellectual property."

Read the full article here.

Conversations that Leaders must have with their people

Here's an indepth read about the #conversations that #leaders need to have with their people.

From the article - "three key conversations for leaders will be : career conversations, performance conversations and engagement conversations."

Some of the questions mentioned in the article can definitely be used to build a #strengthsbased organization.

Read the full article here.

Are you searching the Right Talent Pool?

An absorbing, data-filled article about the current #hiring scenario, given the #greatresignation . There's data about India too. From the article - "the voluntary #quit rate is 25 percent higher than prepandemic levels." "There is less of a stigma attached to job hopping or gaps in a résumé, and joining companies in other geographies without relocating has become easier than ever, making it possible for people to jump from one employer to another. "

Read the article here.

#talentmanagement #employeeengagement #employeevalueproposition #employeeexperience #strengthsdecoder #attrition #flexibility

Manager's role in DEI & Retention

Interesting read on the connection between #DEI and #retention

From the article: "many organizations are implementing a range of DEI practices, but few are “assessing the extent to which these practices were driving workplace outcomes.”

Read the rest here.

How to retain your top talent amid the Great Resignation

From the article:   There is no one-size-fits-all approach to understanding and acting upon employees’ motivations. Instead, it is critical to ask your people individually what drives them, inspires them, what makes them want to stay (or not) with the organization. 

Here are practical ideas on how to retain #talent, especially during this #greatresignation

This of course, applies to all #teammanagers, going right up to the #topmanagement

What would you add to this?

Read the article here

How to make Positive Feedback / Praise Effective

As the first #IndiavsEngland cricket test match started in Chennai today, I recalled the recently concluded test series with Australia last month. There were certain things that struck me, some which were covered by others in their own articles. This in particular, was the speech by head coach, Ravi Shastri in the dressing room after the win.  Have a look here:-

Ravi' Shastri's Speech

I think this speech clearly shows a critical element that is missing from organization life viz. praising your team effectively. From naming individuals in particular, to mentioning specific actions to considering the contributions of every person in the contingent, it was masterful. He made the point of telling the team to celebrate.  At no point, did he hurry through the speech.

Have a look, and share your thoughts on
1) What might be incorporated into the corporate world, and
2) How this speech may impact the current test match / series with England.
3) Those with a #strengths perspective, can share what positive areas the Indian team can improve upon.

#strengthsdecoder #strengthscoaching #coaching #teamcoach #powerofpraise #verbalappreciation #appreciationpost

The Relationship between Feedback and Learning

 https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-feedback-fallacy?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr

An outstanding detailed article on #givingfeedback to your team. Here are two lines that made me think, among others - "Excellence seems to be inextricably and wonderfully intertwined with whoever demonstrates it." and "Focusing people on their shortcomings or gaps doesn’t enable learning. It impairs it."

#cliftonstrengths #strengths #strengthsdecoder #strengthscoaching #feedback #learning #teamcoaching #teammanagement

Displaying Lighthouse Leadership - A Different Perspective

I recently attended a Global Table Conversation organized by IEDP which had Mr. Krishna Thapa as a speaker.

Krishna Thapa is a Gurkha from Nepal who shared his story of growing up in a traditional Nepali village along with the lessons and insights he gained from watching how his community leaders dealt with natural disasters and other challenges. He also detailed the realities of the selection process to become a Gurkha in the British Army and subsequently to be the first Gurkha to be invited to join the SAS.

Among the many gems of wisdom that he shared, here are some that stood out for me.

1) Will I be ok with my decisions 30 years later?

My insight - We make decisions everyday.  Some big (in terms of impact) some small (mundane).  Some are successful, some aren't.  Taking a decision means allocating sufficient time to identify the variables involved, assess them and their possible degree of influence on the current situation, and of course the impact of the decision.  We sometimes miss out on giving sufficient careful thought to the impact of our decisions.  Some of the impacts of decisions are immediately apparent and others invisible to us at that time, and become visible much later.  The reasons for the impacts being invisible are many.  In today's fast paced world, it is difficult to identify and understand those reasons within short timeframes.  So his (Krishna's) method of checking his decision "Will I be ok with my decision 30 years later?" is to ensure that:
a) I have taken into account whatever information is available to me in the given timeframe
b) I have applied my own knowledge and experience in the best manner possible,
c) I have done whatever I could to make sense of the circumstances.
d) I have consulted and pooled my knowledge and experience with whoever I could, as quickly as possible in the given timeframe and taken their inputs, applying them wherever possible.

Whether you lead a team (never mind the level) or not, these are great guidelines for taking decisions.

2) Save others to save ourselves.

The background to this statement was how he and his team went about assisting others and themselves during an avalanche in the Himalayas during a climb, and how he listened to their suggestions - thus enabling a higher survival rate among the climbers with him.  He spoke of a helping mindset which was developed as he grew up in his village, where the survival of one meant the prosperity of all.

My insight - The importance of teamwork and collaboration is critical to the survival of the team and the organization.  In fact, the situational leader will match his input according to his team members needs and capabilities to execute specific goals / KRAs.  He will encourage them to help one another as well. It's tough to call one's department a team if each team member is too preoccupied with executing their own KRAs at the cost of the department goals.

3) The leader is like a lighthouse.  

My insight - This is because, like a lighthouse, he / she shares their light (knowledge and experience) at all times, as much as possible, so that others can learn, be guided and make better decisions on their course, and reach their goals.  It means that he/she  don't wait till it gets completely dark (urgent) but starts sharing information with the team as early as possible.  He also won't bombard them with information all the while, or too soon, again depending on the goal at hand, and his team members' capabilities.

An insecure leader who hoards knowledge and experience is going to bring down not just himself but the organization.  How?  The pace of work will reduce due to bottlenecks created by information hoarding and slow approvals because the team is not empowered to share information or take decisions. Soon the competition will overtake such an organization.

By doing all these three things, the leader would have achieved the highest level of leadership -

He would have created more Leaders

Would you like to have your leaders coached ?

Would you like your next line of managers groomed for leadership in the Situational Leadership Model?

Then write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call me at +919820155778 to set an appointment for a telephonic discussion.

Employee Engagement for All Situations

When people are financially invested, they want a return.  

When they are emotionally invested, they want to contribute

- Simon Sinek

Employee Engagement has been in the conscious mind more and more over the past decade, ever since it was talked about by Gallup's Curt Coffman and Marcus Buckingham in their ground-breaking book "First Break all the Rules".  It has frequently been quoted in HR conferences and HR initiatives along the lines of "X percentage of employees in organizations are disengaged".

Here's a simple definition from Google - "Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work". 


And Forbes.com - "Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals".


Here's what it looks like:

This means that employees put in more than required effort in their work, because they're not just working for a salary or bonus or promotion, but job satisfaction, transparency, along with fulfilling personal growth goals and other things.

A cursory google search will turn up loads of links on the topic, including definitions, how to do it, things to watch out for and so on.  And this article is not really about those things. This article is about what managers can do to drive engagement.

While we're at it, I would like to clearly state that Employee Engagement has nothing to do with fun activities (birthday celebrations, festival contests, annual day events) run by HR and / or line managers every month / quarter.  These are stress buster activities, nothing more, nothing less.  For those who think that these fun activities are employee engagement, ask yourself - "How many candidates will join my organization or take back their resignation because we are running these fun events?"

In my experience of twenty years in HR across different industries, Employee Engagement comes down to the relationship between the manager and his team. This is applicable to for all departments including HR.  Employee engagement is not the responsibility of HR, but the responsibility of anyone who leads a team, irrespective of organization level or delegation. When you come to think of it, it's also the responsibility of those who don't have teams, but work across the organization.  HR can provide a framework of Talent Management (Hiring, Performance Management, Rewards, Learning), but the actual work has to be done by the manager personally.

Why the manager?
The manager has to set goals for the team, ensure discipline, manage and monitor performance regularly, provide effective feedback, groom and develop his team members, and ensure goals are met.

So how does the manager drive engagement in his team ? (the term "he" is interchangeable with whatever term you like)

• He has to know his team, beyond their resumes.  
• He has to let the team get to know him / her - beyond the designation.
• He has to develop a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.  
• Define the goals
• Monitor and manage performance
• Enable them to understand and use their own motivation in their work.

Some may say - Who has time for all this?  It seems a lot of work, and it definitely does require substantial investment of time from the manager. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut from this time investment.  There is of course, the Situational Leadership Model by Dr. Paul Hersey  (Center for Leadership Studies) which can help the manager do all of this.

Here's an image of the model:

The #SituationalLeadership model will enable you to:

• Allocate the appropriate task to the correct employee
• Adopt an appropriate management style with each employee (not a one style fits all approach)
• Get employees to participate in the planning the execution of the department's work.
• Identify high performers
• Manage low performance
• Develop the capabilities of the team members

In a crisis or in Business As Usual (BAU), a leader / manager has to take frequent decisions in many areas where he and his team have to get things done.  The Situational Leadership model is an excellent guide for doing all the above-mentioned points. 
For Situational Leadership to succeed, the manager must know both his own Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as those of his teams. A tool such as the #CliftonStrengths or the #PRISM Brainmapping Professional (or DISC, FIRO-b, etc) is necessary as a precursor to ensure that the team becomes an engaged, smoothly-oiled unit. A few reflective questions to start  could be :

1. "What do I need from my team?"
2. "How do I support my team so that they deliver what I need from them?"

Of course, Team Coaching and Individual coaching will also help, along with regular conversations which treat the employee as a person and not just an employee.

Want to know more? Leave a note here, or write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com to set up a call. I can also be reached at +919820155778 for a conversation.