Millenials and Their Ruling World

A lot has been discussed about the entry of Generation Y or the Millenials into the workforce. They are a lot different from the older knowledge workers and all set to shake up offices and organizations, say experts. Career News tells you more about this charismatic bunch of professionals

The workplace is not what it used to be earlier. Prior to 1998, there were essentially three generations working together with a reasonable degree of harmony. While traditionalists, baby boomers and Gen Xers are certainly distinct and each has their pros and cons, the millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives and contact with diverse people. Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. MD of Kelly Services added that to effectively interact with or manage millennials, it is critical to understand what drives them and shapes the value of their generation. As they are more technology savvy, their preferred mode of communication is instant messenger followed by e-mails and phone calls. They have enjoyed close relationships with parents, teachers and mentors and open electronic access to virtually anyone. They are therefore more willing to circumvent institutional hierarchies to have their voices heard at the top by providing ‘bounded access’ to managerial levels and above through formal 'meet and greet'’ occasions or informal town hall-type meetings. Millennials need to feel that their ideas are being heard while still working within the larger organization's structure.
Today, organizations constitute a large number of a younger workforce, so a large percentage of stakeholders within organizations are millenials. It has been found that even in new age businesses, 80-90 per cent of talented workforce comprise of millenials. Although they do not have many years of experience, they certainly have great innovative ideas and energy to implement, qualities which are widely accepted by their target audience landed by director of GlobalHunt.

FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
In a challenging economy, many young workers are just thankful to have a job. But smart companies are developing strategies to maximize the potential of their entry-level employees — members of the millennial generation — to gain full value from their workforce and minimize turnover as the economy rebounds. What sets them apart at the workplace is their ‘sixth sense’ when it comes to incorporating technology to interact with the world, coupled with an expectation that organizations will moduld themselves to accommodate their needs.
So what are some of the ways through which organizations can keep them moving?

• Millennials want to look up to their leaders, learn from them and receive daily feedback. They always wish to have the leader’s best investment of time in their success.
• Focus on skills: Focus on what they are good at. This group is energetic, bright, and fearless and can multi-task better than anyone. They are technologically-savvy and are used to a 24/7 environment. Instead of complaining about the ways in which this group differs from past generations, use their strengths to your advantage.
• Provide a fun, employee-centred workplace: Millennials want to enjoy their work. They want to enjoy their workplace. Employers need to worry if the millennial employees aren’t laughing, going out with workplace friends for lunch and helping plan the next company event or committee.
• Make the work assigned to them more meaningful: Nothing turns off a millennial faster than work that has no perceived value. Leaders need to provide them with tasks that are more meaningful and have variety.
• Challenge them: Millennials want learning opportunities. They want to be assigned to projects they can learn from. A recent Randstad employee survey found that 'trying new things' was the most popular item. They are looking for growth, development and a career path.
• "This is a generation of talented people who wants to be heard and this need can be supplemented through a coaching-mentoring model. Organizations need to have credible mentors who can satisfy the impatience and curiosity levels of this workforce. The leader of the past knew how to tell, but the leader of the future will know how to ask.

The Millennials have a 'can-do' attitude about tasks at work and seek feedback about how they are performing on a regular basis – even daily. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world!

courtesy : acsent

Leadership Training for Corporates Leaders

Training for executive coaching is raising and receiving immense popularity in India Inc as one of the most efficient ways to nurture and groom potential leaders, discovers Career News.

It is a well-acknowledged fact that a strong leadership team is essential for the success of an organization and today, many firms are in the process of creating good leaders. And how are they honing the talent of future leaders? The answer: executive coaching. Executive coaching is defined as coaching at the executive level (a single individual or a team within an organization) or at an individual level outside the organizational barriers. This one-on-one interaction between a coach and an executive, mainly to enhance his/her potential, both on the job and at a personal level, is quite a new phenomenon in corporate India. According to MD of ELS, even though the concept of executive coaching is very nascent in India, many organizations have begun to realize the benefits of this and are open to implement coaching practices.

But why are organizations keen on promoting the concept of executive coaching? According to director of DCV, an executive coach could bring in several benefits to the organization as well as employees. An executive coach brings in a totally new and different perspective to an organization's functioning. Also, a firm could get an unbiased and a neutral view on things.

At an individual level, an executive coach engages in skillful conversations with the executive and assesses his/her skills and gives them possible suggestions to deal with different situations/demands at work. Coaching does powerful reinforcement of positive behavior. There is lot of unlearning that must be done at an executive level and a coach helps in achieving just that.

Even though executive coaching is gaining prominence in India Inc, there continues to exist a dearth of qualified executive coaches, say experts.

The activity of coaching is far different from training. Skills that are sought after to be a competent executive coach are far and few.The art of listening is among the most vital traits. The coach must be well-trained, equipped with good knowledge of the business and should have good credentials. An executive coach could alter the attitude, belief and behavior of an organization's key talent in order to help him/her to perform better in future life. If the training session is being carried out correctly, could leave a lasting impression on individuals and make them derive maximum advantage, both professionally and personally.

Thus, choosing the most talented executive coach is imperative for organizations and its talent to reap its benefits.

Prograssive Discipline For A Prograssive Workforce

What is 'progressive discipline' and how are organisations implementing it?

"Progressive discipline is a topic of concern today between employees and their employers. However, its ramifications, in the larger context, can have farreaching consequences, even to the extent of impacting organisational goals. The primary purpose of progressive discipline is to assist the employee towards understanding that an opportunity for improvement exists. At ATS, care is taken right from the time an employee comes for his/her first interview, which has a bearing on this aspect. It is during the interview process where the candidate learns that he/she has to live up to the expectations of the organisation and maintain a high level of progressive discipline," explains Lt. Gen HS Bagga, (Retd) corporate head – administration & HR, ATS Group. Career News helps you to gather all your instinct to behave and learn the work place mannerism in your organization.

According to Mukesh Goyal, CEO, IKF Technologies Ltd., "The term, 'progressive discipline' can be broadly defined as a process for dealing with job-related behaviour that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards. At IKF, we follow a feedback mechanism wherein we have a periodic review system in place - a platform where an open interaction takes place for exchange of ideas for performance improvement." Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari (India) expresses, "In today's times, you do not sack an employee on any given opportunity. Bureaucracy doesn't exist anymore. I think progressive discipline gives you an opportunity to test your employee's capability at its fullest before taking any firm decisions. On the other hand, it also offers an opportunity for an employee to give his/her best shot and showcase his/her seriousness towards work."
Many organisations are taking a proactive approach towards solving employee performance problems by using progressive discipline. This benefits, both employers and employees in many ways. "A proper progressive discipline plan ensures regular communication and timely intervention from the organisation to correct employee behaviour at the first sign of things not going right. It helps organisations achieve higher performance and productivity from their employees, while enhancing employee morale and retention by demonstrating that there are rewards for good performance and consequences for poor performance," states Bagga.
"It keeps employees informed about what the company expects out of them and where they stand vis-a-vis that expectation. Effectively used, progressive discipline helps an organisation identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee and thus, get best results out of its workforce," adds Goyal.

So, how should organisations go about implementing progressive discipline at the workplace? Although progressive discipline as a practical matter is nearly universal, the manner in which employers communicate and apply progressive discipline varies greatly. "At ATS, remedial measures encompass a wholesome process covering various aspects. However, before embarking on the corrective methodology, the employer needs to look inwards to see that the malady has not occurred as a result of inadequate motivational aspects. We very clearly spell out the targets that are to be achieved and there is a monitoring system in place, which is tracked on a monthly basis. Where an individual fails to achieve without a cogent reason, he/she is counselled and a repetitive failure renders a candidate to harsher action," shares Bagga.

Implementing progressive discipline can solve many disciplinary issues at the workplace. A progressive disciplinary policy can promote a productive work environment. So, what are you waiting for?

courtesy : ascent

Recruiters and Interview Sessions Are Getting Tougher Now-a-days

How many leaves do you see in the tree outside? How many people in your batch wear spectacles? How many steps have you climbed on the way to this office? Baffled? Zapped? Don't get puzzled, Career News brought the issue to let you notify about the present scenario of what is going on recruiter's mind.

Wait…there’s more. When CEO, MyInsuranceClub.com was recruiting at a premier B-school, he asked, ‘how does your institute’s logo look like?’ He adds, “The candidate must have looked at the logo a thousand times, but never really bothered to look very closely at it.

He was dumfounded ofcourse!” Yohannan didn’t stop grilling though. He asked the same candidate (who got shortlisted for five other companies) to elaborate on any one of the prospective company’s logo? “This had to be the worst interview session in that candidate’s life, as he experienced several embarrassing blanks throughout. The point I am trying to make is that, the question doesn’t need to be weird; it can be the most simple question to un-settle you and from then on, it’s anybody’s guess which way the interview can go,” adds Yohannan. You may wonder how do the answers to the above questions influence a recruiter’s decision. But clearly, we all know that they aren’t entirely insignificant because those questions are being asked by employers to gauge competencies and skills, vital for the job, right?

Dr. Shalini Sarin, director – HR, Schneider Electric India says, “Employers want to see how well the candidate can think on his/her feet. Sometimes, they just want to see if he/she gets rattled. Often, it is only to test one’s creativity or sense of humour. In creating stress and by asking a weird question, the interviewer may be testing how well the person would respond to stressful situations at the workplace.”

In a different interview setting, candidates were asked to express their opinions on the increasing significance of brain drain and Yohannan was a part of the discussion. While most candidates kept harping on the need for better facilities and the lack of government grants for research, etc to keep the best brains in our country, one of them blurted, ‘It considerably increases the marriage prospects of those who have moved abroad’ as one of the key reasons! Yohannan says, “And from there on, a very serious discussion was won over by just looking at the problem from a very non-traditional point of view. Yes, the candidate got selected!” Taxing?

It is evident that India Inc, in an endeavour to hire the best, is resorting to innovative ways of interviewing candidates and gauging their capabilities. “The people are competing across the globe today and hence, one needs to prepare oneself for handling situations, which are unknown and even of an imaginary nature, where the person’s ability and potential can be assessed and measured,” says Harpreet Kaur, senior GM and head – HR, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. The core model behind Hutchison 3 Global Services (H3GS)’s recruitment strategy is the competency-based hiring methodology, which is buffered with certain psychometric tests. In order to identify a candidate’s skills, they play a battery of audio clips of a customer call and ask the candidate for their response to that situation. Ashfaq ul Ahad, VP, recruitment, Hutchison 3 Global Services says, “This enables us to assess how the candidate will react to these situations in ‘real’ time. Another example here is a story reconstruction exercise where the candidates are given a written story about a customer’s problem. Candidates have to identify the customer’s situation and come up with a suitable response.” Ahad gives a word of caution, “Most of these programmes thrive on behaviour-based responses, which are only predictive in nature and can reasonably prove 90-92 per cent congruent on any statistical test; this means that there is an almost 8-10 per cent inherent risk in such methods.” Baffling?

For certain lateral positions at 3i Infotech, job seekers are grilled at the technical stage itself. The questions may require answers, which are technical solutions to the problem but they demand innovative thinking. In roles like training or sales, etc, the individual is required to deliver a short presentation or training module on a given topic. Certain roles, which are clientfacing require the ability to deal with pressure. Here, at 3i Infotech, the client is involved during the interview process and the candidate is put through a gruelling round of technical, business scenario questions and evaluated accordingly. Such questions bring out analytical thinking, creative abilities and crisis-handling traits, they believe. At Godrej & Boyce, they do follow unique approaches in the selection process, which is carried out for candidates. For middle to senior management recruitment and leadership development process, the selection process comprises of assessment centers based on the leadership competencies identified by the organisation. These assessment centers comprise of various tools and exercises like role plays, case studies, etc over and above the psychometric profiling. These days, recruiters refrain from asking dated questions like ‘where do you see yourself five years from now?’. Employers today want to make the most of the time in hand and you have to be prepared to shine through!

courtesy : ascent, Times