This post is a little late in the offing. There’s been a lot going on and I will tell you all about it soon, but first – the four TED talks that made me a tad bit wiser in August. Why is colonialism (still) romanticized? | Farish Ahmad-Noor : Sometimes it is a great orator, … Continue reading Top 4 TED Talks – August Edition
There’s no dearth of advice on the skills a new age HR professional needs to equip themselves with. Over the past few months I have come across recommendation on endless courses on time management, influencing skills, data analytics and empathy. Yet the whole suite of recommendations chooses to stay away from critical skills that HR … Continue reading FOUR COURSES HR NEEDS TODAY
Good ideas usually have multiple differences. However, the key to finding the best ideas is to understand which differences lead to long-term competitive advantage. Basing your innovation purely on making something cheaper, or bundling offerings is short term thinking as it’s easy to replicate. The good ideas are these and much more. And the best ideas are so inventive there’s just no comparison.
Complexity is a weak man’s crutch. The aim of technology is to eliminate friction and integrate itself into everyday life so seamlessly that you barely notice when it’s become an inseparable part. Good design draws upon minimum amount of conscious and cognitive effort.
Most employee benefits elicit little reaction from the HR community. They stay in the news for a while, people usually have mild reactions and then they are either replicated across or ignored. Not this. If this was crafted as a PR move, then it is the greatest ever in the history of PR moves.
Goal setting is a slippery task. No matter how much effort you put into it, it always seems to be lacking an elusive magical element. Just when you feel like you’ve got it right, the year takes an unexpected tumble and you find yourself back at the drawing board.
We have a long way to go before we crack the code to solving for mental health. Unlike most ailments, there isn’t a single virus, bacteria or fungi to fight but a myriad of reasons not all of which can be guarded against. It is a bigger battle in some cultures than others and to believe that a one size fits all approach will work is naïve.
For all those who claim that remote work is the future of work, is a great equalizer and saves organizations a lot of real estate costs, I beg you to consider my pains. I know I am not the only one. I know Google has extended its WFH until July 2021. When the pandemic lifts, vaccines are democratized and the world is safe again, if you keep me from working from an old-school office environment, I can guarantee I will likely kill myself. (Ok, I am kidding. I’ll live). P.S: For all those pro remote workers. It’s been four months now. When does it get easier?
HR needs to take a leaf out of technology’s book. We shoot down innumerable technology interventions worrying that they aren’t perfect. We struggle to pull together the budget for the perfect tech solution. We worry about scale even before we know if our idea will gain traction with users.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my disagreement with referring to the business teams we support as our customers. This isn’t a widely accepted thought and today I will take my argument a step further by attributing the poor design of our HR interventions to this reference. Sounds contrary to popular belief, doesn’t it? We have been conditioned to believe that viewing our business as ‘customers’ will lead to better service. But it doesn’t.
