Tag Archives: People

Stress Management | Tip

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by in Business, My Opinion

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Every morning, Alfred would complain about how stressful it was to drive to office. Heavy traffic. Inconsiderate road users. And the traffic snarls from accidents caused by some ‘idiots’ as he would refer to those involved. He would enter the office in a foul mood and take hours if at all for him to simmer down.

Know anyone like Alfred?

Mabel on the other hand never complained about how stressful it was to drive in morning rush hour. She would enter the office with a cheerful greeting to all she met, including the security guard, office cleaner and coffee lady. She was the life of the office and people gravitated to her good nature and cheery demeanour.

Know anyone like Mabel?

What was Alfred doing wrong and Mabel doing right?

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To begin with, while Alfred sought out someone or something to blame—externalised his problems—Mabel internalised her responsibility, she looked within and took charge of her happiness. This was all the more remarkable, as she too used the same route taken by Alfred and, in fact, lived in the same neighbourhood.

This is how she ensured a stress-free drive to the office:

  1. Mabel departed from her home on time. She was never a minute late, for she knew in the morning rush, every minute—every minute—added traffic to the roads.
  2. She knew her route very well—in minute detail. Once she left her home, she would get onto the lane that entailed minimum lane switching. She would not switch lanes just to squeeze into one car length ahead, for Mabel knew this meant unnecessary stress and worse, the risk of accidents. When traffic slowed, she would remain in her lane. She had already factored in the time.
  3. She always filtered into lanes by getting behind the next car—not racing to cut in front of the next car.
  4. She always gave advance signals of her intentions and maintained adequate gap from the car ahead.
  5. If for whatever reason, traffic held her up, she will not let the delay irritate her into committing rash manoeuvres. On such occasions, Mabel would think of her loved ones and how much her safety meant to the people at home. And she would call in and inform her boss or co-worker that she was running late. She used a hands-free phone kit.
  6. Mabel practised safe driving. She took charge of her well-being. She always arrived cheerful at the office.

Be the Mabel in your office. And driving—even in rush hour—can be pleasant and stress free. You will be ready and calm and make good quality decisions. You owe this to your co-workers and more importantly to yourself.

*** Copyright @ Eric Alagan, 2017 ***

Team Players and Cliché Junkies

31 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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As expected, rush hour traffic was thin today, Tuesday 31 January. It usually is the case on the first work day following a long weekend. Lunar New Year a.k.a. Chinese New Year fell on 28th and 29th January – a weekend and therefore Monday 30th was declared a public holiday.

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Many employees leverage on the long weekend and take a vacation break, and return several days later. Well and good.

But some staff return to work on the second working day – the Wednesday. They take one day off – the first work day following the long weekend. Quite often these are the same people and you notice a consistent pattern of behaviour.

It is not because they are on vacation, though that is the reason proffered. The reality is, these people – a minority, if I might add – know that the first work day after a long weekend is also the most taxing.

Staff return to the office to face a deluge of emails and work, and it can be overwhelming and stressful.

Therefore these clever people stay away an extra day, hoping that most of the backlog will be cleared by the time they return to the office. Shrewd. But it also smacks of a person who gives only lip service to team work.

It is difficult to identify the ones gaming the system as many are genuinely on vacation. And mind you, there is nothing wrong to chill out and recuperate at home – especially after several days of partying. It gets worse when managers pull the same disappearing stunt and return to the office after the dust of the first day settles. We have all met managers who are cliché junkies – parroting something they read but not following through with action.

How do you prevent this abuse or moderate the behaviour?

Well, if a person calls in sick, there is nothing much you can do, especially if their infirmity is certified by a doctor. Even if you detect a pattern, one does not ordinarily question a physician’s decision.

For the rest of the staff – resort to rotation.

Assuming your office has six people and there are three long weekends in a particular year, allow only two people – obviously, each time a different pair – to take off. This allows staff to leverage on long weekends and also spreads the burden of clearing backlog.

Wherever you are and whatever the number of staff in your office – this is one solution.

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Why Great Team Builders Chose the Best

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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1. Why do great team builders chose the best people?

Great team builders know that more than quantity, it is quality that counts. The team is made up of individuals and will succeed or collapse dependent on its weakest link.

2. Why don’t hiring managers chose the best people?

There are many reasons and here are a few (feel free to share your points in the comments below):

  • They’re unable to recognize the best – the most talented.
  • They do not know what they’re looking for in people.
  • They confuse paper qualifications and “years of experience” for expertise.
  • They’re fearful of bringing in people who might outshine them.
  • And many more…

3. Is it not true the more the talented, the more an employer has to pay?

Most people speak in general terms and this is part of the problem. Instead of asking the right questions, they seek the “right” answers. Getting the right answer to a wrong question is not progress, not productive. However, even a wrong answer to a right question sets you on the path of progress.

Instead of seeking the “most talented” the question should be – How do I select the most talented (the best) from a given class of candidates?

This leads us to the next question.

4. How do I determine the class of people?

You do this by clearly defining the following:

  • The job’s scope – what exactly do you want that employee to accomplish. The more detailed, the better.
  • The job’s requirements – both objective or hard skills (paper credentials, years of experience, etc) and subjective elements such as soft skills.
  • An overview of the remuneration package on offer.

These three criteria will attract the right people, or people who consider themselves qualified.

Use the objective/hard skills as a funnel to shortlist candidates, people who meet ALL the requirements (excluding the soft skills) – and this will be your class of applicants.

During your selection process, zero in on the soft skills you desire and you will have your best-in-class. You’re not paying more but paying the same to chose the best from a given class of candidates.

5. Let us be candid here, as a salaried manager, if I chose someone better than me, I risk losing out on promotions and even my job. Do you expect me to chose what is good for my employer over what is good for me?

A pointed question and it’s a very valid question. Answer pending…

 

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Note: I shall upload more questions and answers in this post, and welcome you to “follow” my blog so that you’re kept updated.

Meanwhile, enjoy this short clip: Quality over Quantity is what makes a winner!

****** You’re welcome to share this blog post ******

 

 

 

 

 

Why you should treat your supplier well

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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Over the last few decades, I’ve established hundreds of new customer accounts and served several thousand customers – mostly B2B.

Admittedly, l’ve encountered only about 10 customers – individual purchasing staff who had been downright rude and abusive.

How about you?

Supplier – business partner

Supplier – problem solver

Supplier – customer

Supplier – opinion leader

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Why ask job applicants to enclose their photographs?

12 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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In Singapore, it is the norm to demand from candidates a “non-returnable” photograph with their job applications.

Many companies – small and medium enterprises (SMEs), multinational corporations (MNCs) and government linked companies (GLCs) – simply parrot this nonsense.

This creates a perception of discrimination in hiring.

But I also believe that many so-called HR professionals in Singapore are ignorant and merely copying and pasting stuff that they had seen and experienced when they first applied for a job.

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Match Qualification Criteria to Job Scope

01 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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Why do human resource managers in Singapore demand unnecessary paper qualifications from their candidates?

Are GCE O Levels required for ALL job openings?

Or, is it a case of herd instinct? Since everyone else asks for it, I better ask for it too.

Or, is it something more –

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The Shortfalls of Performance Based Promotions

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by in Business, Hiring: A Primer for Managers, Human Resource

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We all know the game – we studied it in university, we hear management gurus spew it, we practice it on the job and seen it in action in every organization in the private and public sectors, and whether religious, charitable or non-governmental.

Performance based promotions. The foundation is meritocratic and its allure, seductive.

Therein lays all the problems of incompetence, failures and employment terminations.

Let us assume, an employee, John Typical, joins a company with the following hierarchy: Sales Executive > Senior Sales Executive > Sales Manager > Sales Director.

John Typical meets targets set at Sales Executive level. The organization promotes him. He meets targets set at Senior Sales Executive level and he is again promoted, to Sales Manager. He meets KPIs set and does an excellent job. Management promotes John Typical to Sales Director.

Every step of the way, past performance at a junior level, propels John Typical’s promotion to a higher level. Each level comes with added responsibility and authority over an increasing number of direct reports. The assumption here is, because he did well at a certain level, he would do well at the next.

However, as every high jumper knows, it’s simply a question of time before the bar drops.

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Image Credit @ Reuters

When John Typical, now Sales Director, fails to deliver, he is demoralized, sidelined by his management or worse – demoted and perhaps even asked to resign.

The organization just lost a good employee – no, not a sales director, but an excellent Sales Manager!

The loss of talent and experience to the organization is great, and the toll on the employee’s self-worth and dignity, incalculable.

Notwithstanding these obvious pitfalls, most organizations, including brand name MNCs, go down this path. This is a case of hitting the same button on the keyboard in the mindless quest to gain a different outcome.

What then is the solution?

Look out for the next post.

————————- Copyright @ Eric Alagan, 2016 —————————–

Hard vs Soft Skills

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by in Business, Human Resource

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In interviewing and selecting candidates, most hiring managers excel in identifying hard skills. Practitioners also refer to Hard Skills as Tangibles, Objective Criteria and variations thereof.

That being the case, these are some broad classification of hard skills:

  1. Paper qualifications
  2. Specific industry exposure
  3. Specific technical skills
  4. Years of experience
  5. Specific languages skills
  6. Age (See below)
  7. Nationality – jobs open to citizens and permanent residents
  8. Etcetera

The key to classifying Hard Skills is objectivity.

Does the candidate have a specific paper qualification – Yes/No. Does the candidate have minimum years of experience in a particular or related industry – Yes/No.

The challenge is in identifying what HR practitioners broadly refer to as Soft Skills – the Intangible Character traits; the Subjective Criteria and elusive X-Factor that defines a great employee from an ‘also ran’ or worse, a destructive addition to the Team.

Over the years, many models and theories sprouted. High-end placement agencies (colloquially referred to as headhunters) even developed and jealously guard their in-house models.

One measure of success is the fees paid versus the results. By this measure, all have had varying degrees of success.

Soft skills continue to remain the challenge.

Even identifying soft skill traits is a challenge – let alone measuring and valuing these skills.

 

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