The Coming Knowledge Drain
Offering flexibility may help persuade workers to stay on longer, but some firms might have to revamp the way they do business in order to cope with the exodus. By Patrick J. Kiger
Imagine having to deal with this nightmare scenario: One-fifth of the executives, managers and workers with critical skills that your company needs to survive have walked out the door.
Unfortunately, that’s the real-life predicament that companies could face as soon as 2008 because of the aging of the baby boom generation, according to Mary Sue Rogers, global leader of IBM Business Consulting Services’ Human Capital Management group.
"It’s like the Y2K problem," she says. "If you don’t start early enough in preparing for it, you’ll reach a point where no matter how much money you throw at the problem, it won’t be enough."
Rogers says that over the next decade, mature companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan will be hit by a double whammy--difficulty in retaining aging workers, and possible shortages of workers in certain key job categories and skill sets. That’s why IBM is unveiling a package of consulting services that will help companies figure out how to cope with the coming crisis.
Rogers says there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Some companies may need to redesign the work culture and/or financial and benefits incentives to lure older employees into staying, while for others the answer will be to recruit replacement workers and train them to fill critical jobs that will become vacant in a few years. For other companies, she says, the answer may be to alter their business strategy to reduce the importance of the jobs held by retiring workers.
Dimensions of the dilemma Rogers isn’t the only one predicting a dilemma because of graying boomers. "A lot of companies will be struggling just to sustain, much less improve, their workforce capabilities in the next five to 10 years," says Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab researcher David DeLong, author of the book Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce. "They’ll be losing so much talent due to the aging workforce."
According to a recent study by the Conference Board, by 2010 about 64 million workers--40 percent of the nation’s workforce--will be poised for retirement, though not all will choose to leave. The number of people ages 35 to 44 in the nation’s workforce actually will decline by 10 percent, while the number of workers 45 to 54 will grow by 21 percent, and the number of 55- to 64-year-olds will grow by 52 percent.
DeLong says the crisis will hit some sectors--government agencies, utilities, the oil and gas industry, chemical companies and aerospace--particularly hard. "They’re all dependent upon experienced workers who’ve been in jobs for a long time," he says. And within organizations, the graying wave will hurt some departments and skill categories more than others.
"You may see a peculiar situation in which companies are laying off employees in one department and struggling to retain them in another," DeLong says.
A January 2005 study by Input, an information technology consulting firm in Reston, Virginia, projected that by 2008, 45 percent of the federal government’s information technology workers would be 50 years of age or older, setting up a potentially huge loss of institutional knowledge when those workers eventually retire. In a government increasingly dependent upon computers and the Internet to carry out many of its basic functions, it’s not hard to imagine IT talent losses creating chaos.
In the Conference Board study, half of companies surveyed believe that the departing workers will cause "potential knowledge vulnerabilities"--i.e., the loss of crucial experience and skills. But only a third of the companies in the survey had studied their workforce and identified areas where they may lose workers with important knowledge.
Worse yet, IBM’s 2005 Global Human Capital Survey, a study of more than 300 companies, found that 60 percent of human resources executives at mature organizations had trouble even identifying what skills and experience were crucial to the company’s mission.
"If you don’t start early enough in preparing for it, you’ll reach a point where no matter how much money you throw at the problem, it won’t be enough." --Mary Sue Rogers, IBM
"Companies’ first response is, ‘Here are my top talents. If they walk out the door, I’m in trouble,’ " Rogers says. "Our brains tend to go in that direction in the knowledge economy. But those may not be the most difficult people to replace. Sometimes, the vulnerability is in a job that’s hard and not very glamorous, where young talent isn’t attracted to it.
"In the oil industry, for example, think of guys working out on oil rigs, maintenance guys. It’s not a particularly enjoyable environment to work in, and you may have to be out there for six months at a time, away from your family. That’s where the maturing population will hit first. If oil companies don’t think about how to make it a more attractive job or to retain those guys longer, they’re going to have valuable knowledge walk out the door."
No uniform solution In helping companies cope with the gray wave, Rogers can call upon an IBM team that includes not only conventional business consultants but social scientists and cultural anthropologists as well. The first step, she explains, is intensive number crunching, with IBM utilizing its own sophisticated analytical software to look more closely at the data that a company already has collected. Sometimes the picture that emerges is a daunting one.
"We have one client in a mature industry where the effects of the aging workforce will be prevalent sooner," Rogers says. "They already knew that 15 percent of their workforce would leave in 2008. Ten to 15 percent attrition is something most organizations can deal with, so they weren’t worried. Once we started looking at their data, we discovered that throughout most of the company, they actually were only losing 10 percent.
"But there was one critical area of the company where they were going to lose 30 percent of a key competency, one that was of make-or-break importance in terms of their business."
In many cases, Rogers says, the best solution for a company is to entice aging workers to remain on the job, rather than retiring. That might not be as difficult as it once was. A 2005 study by the Harvard School of Public Health and the MetLife Foundation found that the trend toward earlier and earlier retirement peaked in the mid-1980s, and that many workers are staying on the job longer, often out of financial necessity.
Slightly more than half of older employees surveyed by the Conference Board said they were not planning to retire as soon as they became eligible because they found their jobs interesting.
Rogers says that companies can alter their work culture to make jobs more attractive to potential retirees. Again, one size doesn’t necessarily fit all. "If my desire is to retire so I can play more golf," Rogers says, "you need to redesign the job so I can do that while I’m still working."
Flexible working hours and telecommuting are two options that companies can use to that end. In addition, the working environment itself can be redesigned to make it more ergonomically comfortable for older workers, through the use of easier-to-read computer fonts and other tools.
For other companies, the best answer may be to groom new talent to replace retiring workers. As IBM’s Global Human Capital Survey discovered, companies in the U.S. and Canada tend to do little succession planning beyond their top executives.
"Companies need to develop extended supply chains of people," she says. "You have to create a pool that you can train and develop so that they’re ready to move up three years from now." That planning should be accompanied by an effort to capture and pass along the soon-to-be departing workers’ knowledge, through mentoring programs or better documentation.
In other instances, the best way to cope with a graying workforce may be to alter the corporate business strategy and reduce the importance of the positions and skills of retiring workers. Some companies may decide to outsource the jobs or revamp their way of doing business.
Rogers cites the example of an IBM client, a European postal delivery service. "About 80 percent of their delivery people will retire in the next five years," she says. "Do they really want to hire more delivery people to take their place? Or do they want to transform themselves, and come up with a better way to deliver the mail?"
Monday, 22 January 2007
Web Site Review R M S I
Mission - "To become an invaluable and irreplacable provider of increasingly higher value data engineering and software solutions to our partners and clients worldwide"Values & Philosophy
RMSI respects and seeks to maintain the highest standards of fairness, equality, integrity, and honesty. Our corporate philosophy is to:
Create a nurturing environment enabling individual and organizational growth
Maintain a work culture that is fair, transparent, open, and ethical
Provide clients and partners with excellent quality services, cost effectively
Create value and wealth for all our stakeholders
RMSI's Code of Conduct are:
To pursue and promote equal opportunity employment, regardless of gender, age, race, physical disability, sexual orientation, or marital status
To respect the individuality of all employees
To be courteous to all employees, clients, and partners
To communicate openly, honestly, and with respect
Not to tolerate harassment of any kind
Not to solicit, accept or offer any unethical advantage
To respect intellectual property rights
Life@RMSI
At RMSI, you will gain exposure to leading technologies, work with skilled professionals, and develop your technical and business knowledge via RMSI's development and training programs. RMSI actively encourages balancing personal life and professional commitments by providing flexible work schedules and industry leading employee benefit programs. One of the reasons that makes RMSI such an attractive place to work is the diversity of challenges and the fields that are offered. RMSI reinforces the value transparency in diverse ways such as having a neutral observer during well-prepared-for appraisals to ensure openness and fairness, value indicators and internal surveys, RMSI brand equity quiz, internal newsletter, talent management plan and the excellence and innovation awards.
At RMSI, you will gain exposure to leading technologies, work with skilled professionals, and develop your technical and business knowledge via RMSI's development and training programs. RMSI actively encourages balancing personal life and professional commitments by providing flexible work schedules and industry leading employee benefit programs. One of the reasons that makes RMSI such an attractive place to work is the diversity of challenges and the fields that are offered. RMSI reinforces the value transparency in diverse ways such as having a neutral observer during well-prepared-for appraisals to ensure openness and fairness, value indicators and internal surveys, RMSI brand equity quiz, internal newsletter, talent management plan and the excellence and innovation awards.
Employee Benefit Programs at RMSI includes :
Lucrative performance bonuses
Attractive employee referral bonuses
Housing subsidy
Family health plan
Easy vehicle & asset loans
Tax planning services
Education assistance
Vaccination programs
Group personal accident policy
Restaurant and merchandise discounts
Fun@RMSI
RMSI's work environment is collegial and outside work hours we engage our people through an array of activities such as picnics, parties, and games and sports. RMSI Acumania is one forum where you can display your talent in brain games from quizzes and chess, to sports such as, cricket and table tennis. Or if you prefer more sedentary activities, you can simply screen your favorite movies in our very own amphitheatre.
Join us to be a part of it all.
Helping Hands@RMSI
RMSI's Corporate Social Responsibility programs are organized under the aegis of Helping Hands. This avenue has been created for each RMSI employee to connect with a social cause. The objective of the program is to foster the spirit of sharing, pride, teamwork and camaraderie through volunteer work.
RMSI has been featured in the Dataquest Best IT Employers list for third year in a row. We firmly believe that a good organization is bound together by a set of values and commitment, which must be extended to create a meaningful change to its community. The program though still in its nascent stage, has received an overwhelming response and voluntary support by our employees.
We have facilitated various causes.
An eye donation camp was organized in association with I-Care Hospital. An overwhelming number of our employees supported the cause by pledging to donate their eyes.
We have organized many ‘donation drives’ that urge employees to give nicely wrapped useful gifts for underprivileged children or their families. These activities are self-sustaining due to the innate compassion and enthusiasm of our employees. The collections include books, utensils, gadgets, woollens, and beddings as well. We also support organizations like Sruti and Shanti Kaushal Foundation in their endeavor to teach vocational activities, by purchasing items created by their students and by sponsoring the education of underprivileged children.
A fund raising campaign for creating AIDS awareness and prevention was successfully organized, in association with a Delhi-based NGO. RMSI employees also extended ‘Helping Hands’ towards Tsunami victims. Relief was rushed to the site in Chennai, in the form of cash as well as kind. Kerosene stoves, dry ration, first aid medicines were bought and sent through Rotaract Center.
In collaboration with our partner NGO, Aadhar, RMSI volunteers funded and organized a picnic for the children from local slum areas.
Through the ‘Helping Hands’ program, RMSI has been able to reach out to about 500 people around us by actively involving 150 employees, and 5 partner organizations.
The ball has been set rolling. As technology brings the world closer and continues to transcend geographic boundaries, we try to make the world around us a better place to live through our small contributions that make a difference to the lives of the lesser privileged. We aim to continue to further inspire volunteer efforts by RMSI employees like reading to blind children, supporting their education and nutritional needs, organizing blood donation camps etc.
Together, we believe we can make it better!
RMSI's work environment is collegial and outside work hours we engage our people through an array of activities such as picnics, parties, and games and sports. RMSI Acumania is one forum where you can display your talent in brain games from quizzes and chess, to sports such as, cricket and table tennis. Or if you prefer more sedentary activities, you can simply screen your favorite movies in our very own amphitheatre.
Join us to be a part of it all.
Helping Hands@RMSI
RMSI's Corporate Social Responsibility programs are organized under the aegis of Helping Hands. This avenue has been created for each RMSI employee to connect with a social cause. The objective of the program is to foster the spirit of sharing, pride, teamwork and camaraderie through volunteer work.RMSI has been featured in the Dataquest Best IT Employers list for third year in a row. We firmly believe that a good organization is bound together by a set of values and commitment, which must be extended to create a meaningful change to its community. The program though still in its nascent stage, has received an overwhelming response and voluntary support by our employees.
We have facilitated various causes.
An eye donation camp was organized in association with I-Care Hospital. An overwhelming number of our employees supported the cause by pledging to donate their eyes.
We have organized many ‘donation drives’ that urge employees to give nicely wrapped useful gifts for underprivileged children or their families. These activities are self-sustaining due to the innate compassion and enthusiasm of our employees. The collections include books, utensils, gadgets, woollens, and beddings as well. We also support organizations like Sruti and Shanti Kaushal Foundation in their endeavor to teach vocational activities, by purchasing items created by their students and by sponsoring the education of underprivileged children.
A fund raising campaign for creating AIDS awareness and prevention was successfully organized, in association with a Delhi-based NGO. RMSI employees also extended ‘Helping Hands’ towards Tsunami victims. Relief was rushed to the site in Chennai, in the form of cash as well as kind. Kerosene stoves, dry ration, first aid medicines were bought and sent through Rotaract Center.
In collaboration with our partner NGO, Aadhar, RMSI volunteers funded and organized a picnic for the children from local slum areas.
Through the ‘Helping Hands’ program, RMSI has been able to reach out to about 500 people around us by actively involving 150 employees, and 5 partner organizations.
The ball has been set rolling. As technology brings the world closer and continues to transcend geographic boundaries, we try to make the world around us a better place to live through our small contributions that make a difference to the lives of the lesser privileged. We aim to continue to further inspire volunteer efforts by RMSI employees like reading to blind children, supporting their education and nutritional needs, organizing blood donation camps etc.
Together, we believe we can make it better!
People Practices
Media and corporate commentators acknowledge RMSI's People Practices to be amongst the best in the industry. RMSI has been listed in the IDC-Dataquest India's Top 20 Best IT Employers survey for three years in a row, since 2003, and has improved its ranking in this survey every year. In the IT Best Employer survey 2005, it was listed in the 4-star category, giving it a 4th to 7th position ranking and more specifically, RMSI was ranked first in the “Excited About Work” survey parameter, reflecting its strong commitment towards its employees.
RMSI has also been ranked 5th in the Great Places to Work study 2005 conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places to Work Institute, Inc, USA and Business World. Such achievements highlight the effort of everyone at RMSI towards making RMSI a company many people wish to work for. We truly believe that happy employees work better with our clients.
Some of the people practices that make RMSI a positive work environment include:
Talent Management - We continuously provide career development and growth opportunities to our people through our pioneering Talent Management Plan. The plan provides dual opportunities for people to grow in the Managerial and Technical ladders as per their career aspirations. It also recognizes top performers as RMSI's “Gold Stars”.
RMSI WAYZ - Our reward and recognition program is a step towards appreciating and recognizing employees' outstanding performance and achievements through a series of rewards, including the highly prestigious Professor Haresh Shah Reward (i-Fresh), named after our Ex-Chairman, who is one of the pre-eminent scholars in India and a leader in the field of innovation. We also reward outstanding efforts to ensure client engagement, team development, and creativity. Yet another initiative is the ‘Premier Club’, a forum comprising employees who have completed five years with RMSI.
Training Workshops - We are committed to developing the skill-set and competencies of our people and regularly train employees in technical and soft-skills to enhance their capabilities and performance. To this end, RMSI runs a variety of workshops, ranging from team building, coaching, and communication skills to complex and diverse technical skills.
Communication - RMSI frequently collects feedback from employees to gather their ideas on improving the work environment. The various channels of communication include face-to-face meetings, the Employee Contact Program (ECP), CARE, Innerview@RMSI, U-First@HR, and Employee Satisfaction Surveys.
Health Camps - RMSI holds regular health check-ups, individual counseling by physicians, eye check up camps, naturopathy, yoga, and meditation workshops to help ensure the well being of our staff. RMSI also runs some unusual workshops to promote the psychological health of staff, such as parenting skills and stress management through jazz.
Media and corporate commentators acknowledge RMSI's People Practices to be amongst the best in the industry. RMSI has been listed in the IDC-Dataquest India's Top 20 Best IT Employers survey for three years in a row, since 2003, and has improved its ranking in this survey every year. In the IT Best Employer survey 2005, it was listed in the 4-star category, giving it a 4th to 7th position ranking and more specifically, RMSI was ranked first in the “Excited About Work” survey parameter, reflecting its strong commitment towards its employees.
RMSI has also been ranked 5th in the Great Places to Work study 2005 conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places to Work Institute, Inc, USA and Business World. Such achievements highlight the effort of everyone at RMSI towards making RMSI a company many people wish to work for. We truly believe that happy employees work better with our clients.
Some of the people practices that make RMSI a positive work environment include:
Talent Management - We continuously provide career development and growth opportunities to our people through our pioneering Talent Management Plan. The plan provides dual opportunities for people to grow in the Managerial and Technical ladders as per their career aspirations. It also recognizes top performers as RMSI's “Gold Stars”.
RMSI WAYZ - Our reward and recognition program is a step towards appreciating and recognizing employees' outstanding performance and achievements through a series of rewards, including the highly prestigious Professor Haresh Shah Reward (i-Fresh), named after our Ex-Chairman, who is one of the pre-eminent scholars in India and a leader in the field of innovation. We also reward outstanding efforts to ensure client engagement, team development, and creativity. Yet another initiative is the ‘Premier Club’, a forum comprising employees who have completed five years with RMSI.
Training Workshops - We are committed to developing the skill-set and competencies of our people and regularly train employees in technical and soft-skills to enhance their capabilities and performance. To this end, RMSI runs a variety of workshops, ranging from team building, coaching, and communication skills to complex and diverse technical skills.
Communication - RMSI frequently collects feedback from employees to gather their ideas on improving the work environment. The various channels of communication include face-to-face meetings, the Employee Contact Program (ECP), CARE, Innerview@RMSI, U-First@HR, and Employee Satisfaction Surveys.
Health Camps - RMSI holds regular health check-ups, individual counseling by physicians, eye check up camps, naturopathy, yoga, and meditation workshops to help ensure the well being of our staff. RMSI also runs some unusual workshops to promote the psychological health of staff, such as parenting skills and stress management through jazz.
Accolades -
RMSI Ranked 5th Across all Industries in the "Great Places To Work" Study
NEWARK CA, February 20, 2006: RMSI, a global IT services company, announced today, that it achieved a ‘Pride of Place’ ranking and placed 5th in the ‘Great Places to Work Study 2005’ conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places to Work Institute, Inc, USA and Business World. RMSI received a 4-star status on all the survey parameters - Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride and Camaraderie.
The study covered all of India, across all industries - FMCG, Power Generation, Pharmaceutical, Insurance, Hospitality, Consulting, and IT and spanned over 180 companies and 24, 750 employees. A unique employee-centric methodology was adopted to measure the levels of trust, pride and camaraderie in the organization. Workplaces were ranked on a point scale in a combination of quantitative and qualitative data based on the opinion of employees.
Commenting on RMSI’s inclusion in the study, Ms. Neerja Verma, Senior Vice President (Human Resources), RMSI said, “When leading a team of gifted achievers, HR assumes a far greater importance because expectations are, perhaps, that much higher. RMSI reinforces the value transparency in diverse ways such as having a neutral observer during well-prepared-for appraisals to ensure openness and fairness, value indicators and internal surveys, RMSI brand equity quiz, internal newsletter, talent management plan and the excellence and innovation awards”.
NEWARK CA, February 20, 2006: RMSI, a global IT services company, announced today, that it achieved a ‘Pride of Place’ ranking and placed 5th in the ‘Great Places to Work Study 2005’ conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places to Work Institute, Inc, USA and Business World. RMSI received a 4-star status on all the survey parameters - Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride and Camaraderie.
The study covered all of India, across all industries - FMCG, Power Generation, Pharmaceutical, Insurance, Hospitality, Consulting, and IT and spanned over 180 companies and 24, 750 employees. A unique employee-centric methodology was adopted to measure the levels of trust, pride and camaraderie in the organization. Workplaces were ranked on a point scale in a combination of quantitative and qualitative data based on the opinion of employees.
Commenting on RMSI’s inclusion in the study, Ms. Neerja Verma, Senior Vice President (Human Resources), RMSI said, “When leading a team of gifted achievers, HR assumes a far greater importance because expectations are, perhaps, that much higher. RMSI reinforces the value transparency in diverse ways such as having a neutral observer during well-prepared-for appraisals to ensure openness and fairness, value indicators and internal surveys, RMSI brand equity quiz, internal newsletter, talent management plan and the excellence and innovation awards”.
RMSI placed second in the DQ Top 20 Best Indian IT Employer Companies
NEW DELHI (INDIA), 7tth September 2006: The IDC-Dataquest IT Best Employers Survey 2006 results are out and for the fourth year running, global IT services provider RMSI has moved upward in the spotlighted "Top Twenty" ranking, jumping from last year’s fourth place to the runner-up position. RMSI is placed ahead of Indian IT industry leaders such as Infosys, Wipro, and NIIT amongst others.
In the survey, RMSI is ranked first on the "Dream Company to work for" parameter by its employees and ranked fourth best in the industry by the people outside. A still closer look at the survey confirms the suggestion of the Dataquest reporter Bhaswati Chakravorty in the magazine’s August 31 cover story- RMSI may be tops among all Indian IT companies at attracting and retaining talent. In fact, RMSI was ranked first in the survey’s “Employee Satisfaction” rankings.
RMSI is way ahead of the industry average on all the survey parameters. On the salary and Job content parameters, while companies such as Infosys and Wipro are placed between 14th to 20th positions, RMSI achieved an envious 3rd place finish.
"As an organization, we have always believed in empowering our people and nurturing their aspirations and talents to maximize value creation for all our stakeholders. Being chosen as a people-centric organization for the fourth consecutive year is a manifestation of RMSI’s belief that our people are our greatest asset," said Neerja Verma, Senior Vice President (Human Resources), RMSI.
Earlier this year, RMSI was also ranked 5th in the Great Places To Work (India) Study conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places To Work Institute, Inc. (USA) and Businessworld magazine. This survey covered all Indian industries.
NEW DELHI (INDIA), 7tth September 2006: The IDC-Dataquest IT Best Employers Survey 2006 results are out and for the fourth year running, global IT services provider RMSI has moved upward in the spotlighted "Top Twenty" ranking, jumping from last year’s fourth place to the runner-up position. RMSI is placed ahead of Indian IT industry leaders such as Infosys, Wipro, and NIIT amongst others.
In the survey, RMSI is ranked first on the "Dream Company to work for" parameter by its employees and ranked fourth best in the industry by the people outside. A still closer look at the survey confirms the suggestion of the Dataquest reporter Bhaswati Chakravorty in the magazine’s August 31 cover story- RMSI may be tops among all Indian IT companies at attracting and retaining talent. In fact, RMSI was ranked first in the survey’s “Employee Satisfaction” rankings.
RMSI is way ahead of the industry average on all the survey parameters. On the salary and Job content parameters, while companies such as Infosys and Wipro are placed between 14th to 20th positions, RMSI achieved an envious 3rd place finish.
"As an organization, we have always believed in empowering our people and nurturing their aspirations and talents to maximize value creation for all our stakeholders. Being chosen as a people-centric organization for the fourth consecutive year is a manifestation of RMSI’s belief that our people are our greatest asset," said Neerja Verma, Senior Vice President (Human Resources), RMSI.
Earlier this year, RMSI was also ranked 5th in the Great Places To Work (India) Study conducted by the Grow Talent Company in partnership with the Great Places To Work Institute, Inc. (USA) and Businessworld magazine. This survey covered all Indian industries.
HR Team
Neerja Verma - Senior Vice President (Human Resources)Neerja manages Human Resource Development for RMSI which includes recruitment, compensation, performance management, competency development, and HR systems and processes. She holds a Bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Lucknow.
Before joining RMSI, Neerja worked with IIS InfoTech, Modiluft, House of Malhotra and the Amrita Bazaar Patrika Group of Publications, where she was involved in creating proactive HR systems and benchmarking HR practices. She also successfully integrated competency based development processes to improve stability and employee commitment within these organizations.
Source : www.rmsi.com
Book Review - Winning Habits - 4 Secrets
The Winning Habits: 4 Secrets That Will Change The Rest Of Your Lifeby Dick Lyles
Dick looks at four simple formulas for becoming more effective and successful. The author Dick Lyles, CEO of the global consulting company Leadership Legacies and formerly the President and COO of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, shares in this book the secrets to lifetime of fulfillment. A cross between the best-selling books Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard and Dr. Covey s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this 111-page book uses fictional characters to bring to life the not-so-secret guidelines to success making it easier for readers to grasp the concepts.
The author reveals that you too can be successful by adhering to four simple winning habits in your job, family, business or your daily life:
1. Be first on, last off, and add extra value. How you do things is key to your success. According to Lyles, it is not sufficient to have great ideas, do good work, and then stop. You will achieve better results if you focus on creating a better outcome. A one-person business owner, most especially, does not have the luxury to simply conjure brilliant ideas for the business, and then expect someone else to worry about the details and follow-through.
A results-oriented person who puts in extra effort to come up with significant improvements to their projects stands a greater chance at success than an activity-based person. Don t make the mistake of thinking that your brains alone can carry you, because in the real world, brains alone aren t enough. You need to possess a high degree of curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-critique to succeed.
2. Never trade results for excuses. Stuff happens is the excuse we often find ourselves making when we are unable to do things we originally planned to do. Successful people, according to the author, make sure that they do what they commit themselves to do. Simple rationalizations and flimsy excuses do not easily let them off the hook. People who want to succeed as focused on the results, always bearing in mind that productivity is more important than activity. They make no excuses for themselves; they just do it.
If you want to attain a lifetime of fulfillment, you need to develop the habit off saying, There s no excuse to prod yourself to doing what you set out to do.
3. Solve problems in advance. Learning how to troubleshoot action plans before you implement them is the essence of the third winning habit.
Lyles explain that every move whether implementing a new decision or solving a problem -- can have consequences, some of which are unintended. Some of these unintended consequences can become new problems that you need to face. To avoid new problems popping up, you need to learn how to troubleshoot your decisions.
Troubleshooting decision means having a logical and consistent method for solving problems and making decisions. According to the author, there are seven steps to solving a problem:
§ Define the problem § Define objectives § Generate alternatives § Develop action plan § Troubleshoot § Communicate § Implement
4. Always make those around you look good. The author advises, Develop the habit of always making those around you look good. You can get further ahead in life if you don t push people back to propel yourself up front. The reason: people know. You ll stand a greater chance at success if you make the habit of creating allies, instead of enemies.
This advice is even more relevant for entrepreneurs working with employees. You can achieve more if you are able to support your employees goals, help solve their problems, show that you are truly interested in helping them achieve in line with the overall organization s goals.
The Winning Habits: 4 Secrets That Will Change The Rest Of Your Life is a fun and simple read. Its parable writings are easy to digest and apply in your business and daily life.
About the Author :
Dick is the CEO of Leadership Legacies, LLC, a global consulting company that serves business leaders by offering them a comprehensive and integrated line of products and services that significantly increase the performance of their organizations and the people within them. He is also the former president of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, which doubled in size during his three-year tenure.
He has had a distinguished career for more than 25 years as an entrepreneur, executive, author, speaker, and consultant with an international clientele. His clients are organizations of all sizes, including many Fortune 500 companies and government agencies at all levels around the world.He is the author of four books:
Winning Habits: 4 Secrets that will Change the Rest of Your Life;
Winning Ways: Four Secrets for Getting Great Results by Working Well with People; Responsible Managers Get Results, written with Gerry Faust and Will Phillips; and
Practical Management Problem Solving and Decision Making.
Dick is a frequent guest on radio and television programs and speaks at conventions, conferences, and executive retreats around the world. Whether he is delivering a keynote address, consulting with clients, coaching protégés, or leading his management team, Dick Lyles is known for his ability to energize people and develop powerful results -- producing relationships -- in essence, he "walks the talk" of Winning Habits and Winning Ways.
Dick is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and has a master's degree in organizational psychology and a Ph.D. in business administration.
HR Events Round Up - Expanding the Talent Pool
The dearth of IT engineers is forcing the Indian IT companies to recruit around 40,000-50,000 non-IT professionals and science graduates in this financial year -- the highest by any industry in the country.
This is notwithstanding the fact that over 10 lakh IT engineers are being churned out annually by the 17,625 IT and management institutes in the country. IT majors such as Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, GTL and Wipro Technologies are some of the companies in the forefront of recruiting non-IT personnel for IT jobs, while other IT companies and the unorganised sector is also close behind.
"The requirement of IT engineers is huge, with the industry needing an estimated 50 lakh personnel in the current financial year itself, of which around 50 to 55 per cent had been recruited. However, recruiting another 45 per cent in the last quarter is quite unlikely, with a maximum of around 10 per cent likely to be added," GTL group Chief People's Officer S N Jadhav said.
Jadhav, who is also doing his thesis on 'Impact of Technology on Employment Market' expects recruitment of around 50,000 personnel in the fourth quarter. GTL intends to recruit over 1,000-1,500 non-IT employees in this year and will train them for the jobs.
Reflecting the sentiment, Infosys Technologies' chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy said, "There is a serious dearth in talent across all the verticals of the IT industry, and we have been continuously recruiting non-IT personnel in the company." The company had forecast an addition of 25,000 employees and later revised it to 28,000, recruited around 25,000 personnel during the year. The IT bellwether company would recruit over 3,000 hands in the last quarter of this year, of which a considerable number would be non-IT hands.
Tech Mahindra will recruit 1,000 non-IT graduates and management students for IT jobs in the current financial year, of which 500-600 of them will be graduates (BSc and BCom) having experience of 1-2 years. According to L K Bhatia, vice-president (resource management group), Tech Mahindra, "I wouldn't say that the recruitment of graduates is due to a dearth of skilled personnel, though that is one of the reasons. Bringing down total employment cost of the company and reducing attrition are the main reasons."
TCS has rolled out a programme -- 'Ignite' -- much ahead of the curve. The programme intends to train non-engineering talent to work on IT assignments. "We have already enrolled 500 people this year, and we intend to increase it to 2,500 next year. The programme will help us to reduce the pressure we face due to lack of skilled manpower," TCS Global Head (Human Resources), S Padmanabhan said.
Wipro has a tie-up with Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and is currently training 2,000 personnel for its IT initiatives.
Source : Business Standard.
This is notwithstanding the fact that over 10 lakh IT engineers are being churned out annually by the 17,625 IT and management institutes in the country. IT majors such as Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, GTL and Wipro Technologies are some of the companies in the forefront of recruiting non-IT personnel for IT jobs, while other IT companies and the unorganised sector is also close behind.
"The requirement of IT engineers is huge, with the industry needing an estimated 50 lakh personnel in the current financial year itself, of which around 50 to 55 per cent had been recruited. However, recruiting another 45 per cent in the last quarter is quite unlikely, with a maximum of around 10 per cent likely to be added," GTL group Chief People's Officer S N Jadhav said.
Jadhav, who is also doing his thesis on 'Impact of Technology on Employment Market' expects recruitment of around 50,000 personnel in the fourth quarter. GTL intends to recruit over 1,000-1,500 non-IT employees in this year and will train them for the jobs.
Reflecting the sentiment, Infosys Technologies' chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy said, "There is a serious dearth in talent across all the verticals of the IT industry, and we have been continuously recruiting non-IT personnel in the company." The company had forecast an addition of 25,000 employees and later revised it to 28,000, recruited around 25,000 personnel during the year. The IT bellwether company would recruit over 3,000 hands in the last quarter of this year, of which a considerable number would be non-IT hands.
Tech Mahindra will recruit 1,000 non-IT graduates and management students for IT jobs in the current financial year, of which 500-600 of them will be graduates (BSc and BCom) having experience of 1-2 years. According to L K Bhatia, vice-president (resource management group), Tech Mahindra, "I wouldn't say that the recruitment of graduates is due to a dearth of skilled personnel, though that is one of the reasons. Bringing down total employment cost of the company and reducing attrition are the main reasons."
TCS has rolled out a programme -- 'Ignite' -- much ahead of the curve. The programme intends to train non-engineering talent to work on IT assignments. "We have already enrolled 500 people this year, and we intend to increase it to 2,500 next year. The programme will help us to reduce the pressure we face due to lack of skilled manpower," TCS Global Head (Human Resources), S Padmanabhan said.
Wipro has a tie-up with Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and is currently training 2,000 personnel for its IT initiatives.
Source : Business Standard.
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