Daring Greatly

Theodore Roosevelt quote and words of wisdom  provide me inspiration every time I meet with a failure . 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

How do you handle defeats ? How do you handle failures in Life ? Do you talk about your failures ? 

Or do you show only the shiny and rosy picture of you to the world ? 

We learn more from failures than from successes . Yet Leaders who talk about their failures in Social Spaces are rare. Does your organisation has a culture of discussing failures and learning from them ? Or Do Leaders brush failures under the carpet . 

You cant create a learning organization unless people are encouraged to ask questions and discuss such issues openly. Leader's approach to handling failures is Quiet telling about the culture of an organization . 

A company culture which demands innovation but does not support and accept failure is clearly one which is destined to fail.

"The wisdom of learning from failure is incontrovertible. Yet organizations that do it well are extraordinarily rare" - HBR Article 

Best Podcasts for HR Professionals

For HR Leaders, who dont have time to browse through HR articles or attend SHRM events or HR Conferences, HR Podcasts is a great way to keep up with the HR Trends.

Here is a list of curated Podcasts from the world of HR






1. Nine To Thrive HR

2. Lunch Conversation with DriveThruHR

3.  HR Happy Hour

4. The Bill Kutik Radio Show 

5.  Human Resources (HR) &; Human Resource Management (HRM)

6.  HBR IdeaCast

7.  Fistful of Talent

8.  Hiring On All Cylinders

9.   Lets fix Work by Laurie 

12.  HR Happy Hour 

10.  Work Life Podcast by Adam Grant 

11. TalentCulture’s Live Radio Podcast

12.  Accelerate - Podcast with HR and Business Leaders who went the extra mile by Belong 

If you need help with Recruitment , HR , Employer Branding, Gender Diversity & Inclusion  Consulting and Training , Follow us on Twitter for useful resources @EmpBrandIndia .  
@womentakelead25  and get in touch with Ruchi Bhatia at 9911112396 , ruchibhatia23@gmail.com

Speaking on Gender #Diversity in Organizations at India #Women Convention . Contact @rucsb for Gender Diversity workshops for your organization pic.twitter.com/eXHHDiRVWu

— Womenomics (@womentakelead25) September 30, 2018

Top Trends in Leadership Development in 2015

So, I reached out to my PLN ( Personal Learning Network ) on Twitter to find out what are the Top Trends in Leadership Development in 2015.

Here are the responses from Twitterati , HR Experts and HR Leaders . Twitter rocks.

What are the top Trends in Leadership Development in 2015 ? #HR @IndianYash @sahana2802 @_Kavi @sundertrg @JoyAndLife

— Ruchi (@rucsb) May 20, 2015

Workshopping ur leaders in rocket tech at @singularityu & make em innovative is really cool @rucsb @sahana2802 @_Kavi @sundertrg @JoyAndLife

— Yash Mahadik (@IndianYash) May 20, 2015

@rucsb 1.Companies are going for "make" with external help as apposed to "buy" @IndianYash @sahana2802 @_Kavi @sundertrg @JoyAndLife

— Anand Pillai (@Anand__Pillai) May 20, 2015

.@Anand__Pillai @IndianYash @sahana2802 @_Kavi @sundertrg @JoyAndLife interesting insight. Build gets more focus in Buy Build Borrow model

— Ruchi (@rucsb) May 20, 2015

Leader pools across Orgs r getting popular too, though yet to gain momentum in India @rucsb

— Sunder Ramachandran (@sundertrg) May 20, 2015

@rucsb Micro learning. The 70 of 70:20:1 is coming to life finally. Focused development versus carpet bombing. LMs finally beginning to own.

— Gurprriet Siingh (@JoyAndLife) May 20, 2015

Social Media is the talk of the Town

Social Media explosion is the talk of the town. Almost every business , industry, company is trying to tap into the opportunities that explosion in Social Media provides for improved business outcomes.
Leveraging Social Media has become imperative for companies to engage with customers, employees and business partners. Marketing & comms department has been the first to jump on the bandwagon to engage in 2 way communication models to reach out to customers. In the age of information overload, attention becomes the currency and Branding acquires centre stage.
How can HR remain immune or impervious to this excellent opportunity. Broadly speaking, when it comes to Talent Management - HR function is about Capacity planning, capability building, engagement and retention. What I see is rise in the HR Job roles that has components of Social elements embedded into it.
For example , if you are a L&D professional, you must be thinking how to utilise newer models eg Flipped classroom into learning process.
Recruitment is not left behind either. We have newer roles in Recruitment eg Recruitment Branding , Recruitment Marketing . After all the job of hiring managers is to sell the "work" ,Organisation "culture " to the prospective candidates.

Social networking phenomenon revolutionises the recruitment experience for both candidates and employers. Companies are rethinking their social media strategies to make recruiting processes more transparent and to tap into and engage with the talent pools. More and more companies are on the lookout for know how on how to leverage social networking sites eg Facebook, LinkedIn to advertise jobs, increase brand awareness, showcase Company culture and provide a glimpse to candidates about the working environment, growth , learning, career and development opportunities.
Both candidates and employers are using the digital footprints to research about each other and find data points for better decision making. Hiring can be viewed as a Match making process . More the data points, assumption is, better would be the decision ie final outcome for both employers and candidates.

In my experience, I see 2 kinds of recruiters & hiring managers. On one end of spectrum, we have recruiters who has invested in self learning , acquired new skills to use social networking for sourcing, engagement, building relationships with candidates. On other end of spectrum , few hiring managers & recruiters are wondering and still pondering over the risks. Social networking adoption Benefits far outweigh the risks, ask any candidate or HR Professional who has reaped benefits from this new medium. Technology is neutral. A fool with a tool is still a fool.  Recruiters and hiring managers must enhance their understanding on the value Social media and social networking adoption and invest in self education and self learning. They must learn from recruiters who are using Facebook graph search, Linkedin recruiters license and reaping great benefits to minimise agency dependency and reduce costs & generate value for organisation with fewer resources. They are the ones who are innovating on the field. These recruiters understand Social Recruiting . Social Recruiting as a concept is relatively new. Talent can not be hired, it can only be courted.Go figure - how. Simply put, Hiring in other words , is a long & extended conversation. For hiring managers, Hiring is about channel mix too. Employee Referrals is another process which can be disrupted using the social networking platforms. Much scope to bring Efficiencies and Effectiveness  into the Hiring process and to disrupt the existing models and evolve new Hiring Models. Employer Branding has nuances and implications understood by the privileged few. Employer Branding and Social Recruiting is bound to witness growth in coming years.

Sage advice from Social Business gurus ~  Get Social. Do business
As Dr Marshall Goldsmith says ~ what got you here! won't get you there.
If you are still wondering why, what, how ..then remember, Self education is the key. Follow and Learn from Thought Leaders. .  I tweet and share insightful stuff on Social HR through twitter (@rucsb) and my blog ~ HR Gurukul.

Bonus ~

What IBM Recruitment is upto -
1. Integrated Social approach to ATS ( Applicant Tracking System)
2. Employee Referral Program empowered by Social Referrals
3. ROI of Social Recruitment measured through  Influenced and Direct Social Hires
4. Hiring Processes enabled & powered through Analytics
5. HR Leaders Rely on Data than on Gut. Better Decision Making on part of HR Leaders. Improved Business outcomes.


3 Key Actionables to get started on Social HR (Recruitment) Journey
1. Invest time  in building your own Linkedin and Twitter Profile.
2. Socially Network with Thought Leaders in Social Recruitment
    Tony Rustell
    Matt Charney
    Todd Raphael
    Sarang Brahme
3. Invest in your Learning and Development. Join IndiaHRLive, IndiaHRChat, TChat, SocialHRSuccess  discussions on twitter . Connect with & Learn from HR Leaders and Practitioners. Learn about Social HR from  Meghan M Biro, Abhijit Bhaduri, Khalid Raza, Gautam Ghosh , Self Promotion Alert : Ruchi Bhatia

I can be contacted via twitter @rucsb






 
 
 

As One - Individual Action, Collective Power

I like getAbstract very much. I am a bookaholic , however, now since so much of information is available in digital format, I probably , wont be able to read all the books that I may like to read in a specific timeframe. That's where getAbstract is very valuable, I can get keytakeaways from as many books as I like. :-)This one caught my attention and I would like to share about Individual Action & Collective Power. Organizations are likely to fail when they suffer a “disconnect” between leadership styles and strategic goals – and between prevailing and preferred ways of working. For people to reach their full potential, leaders and followers need to work as a collective – a single organism united for a common purpose. Examples from politics, business and the not-for-profi t sector suggest eight models or archetypes of collective leadership. Spanning command-and-control and laissez-faire leadership formats – and hybrids of the two – these models provide a taxonomy for “As One” behaviors . Key takeaways from this book by by Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley ( Deliotte Global CEO)

• Leaders and followers should work “as one” – in a unit – to solve problems.
• Eight archetypes describe successful leader-follower relationships:
• “Landlord and tenants”: The leader controls a resource others want.
• “Community organizer and volunteers”: In a reversal of power, leaders inspire, but
followers set the agenda and act.
• “Conductor and orchestra”: A leader sets rules; followers offer their “personal best.”
• “Producer and creative team”: The organization gives a team of experts and
innovators the resources and the creative freedom to meet the producer’s goals.
• “General and soldiers”: The leader’s “mission” – and the followers’ sense of security
– depends on clarity, hierarchy, and command and control.
• “Architects and builders”: Architects ask a team of diverse but interdependent
builders to bring their blueprint to life in clearly defi ned stages.
• “Captain and sports team”: Captains inform the team and help it adapt to change.
• “Senator and citizens”: Like-minded people work together as a community, choosing
to observe the same “constitution.” Their leader is a mentor, not a dictator.

Thought Leader

Art Kleiner is the editor in chief of the award-winning management magazine strategy+business, as well as the author of two well-known management books. He developed a framework for advancing thought leadership in partnership with MIT’s Center for Organizational Learning. His definition of “thought leadership” is elegant and accessible: it’s about translating ideas, and giving the view from our vantage point, turning them into communications that are clear and actionable. His point is that you don’t have to be Peter Drucker or Marshall Goldsmith to be a thought leader…..each of us has the ability to articulate our thoughts effectively and influence others with our good ideas. It does, however, take preparation.

In Art’s framework, there are four facets of thought leadership. It’s important for emerging thought leaders to address each of these, one at a time (tackling more than one at a time leads to “thinker’s block”).

Briefly stated, the four facets are:
- What is my Purpose: Being explicit about your vision and priorities
- Who is my Audience: Defining who you are trying to reach, and discovering their assumptions
- What is the Research: Being cognizant of how you are substantiating, and challenging, your information and assumptions
- What is the Story: Determining how to make your message compelling to your audience

P.S- Above paragraph is from Dr Marshall Goldsmith newsletter

31 Questions I ever wanted to ask a Chief Learning Officer

Leaders of past knew the right answers, Future Leaders will know how to ask the right questions.
Managers ask How, Leaders ask what and why ?
Peter Drucker

here is my list of favorite questions that i always wanted to get answers from L&D Leaders.


1. Is there someone in your team who manages informal ( social) learning formally ?
2.Do you have a Leadership Development Program which is tied to Succession Planning ? Who designed that program ? Who delivers that program ?
3. What do you value more if the focus is to develop say Collaborate Globally competency , heavy content loaded deck with case studies which is just sufficient to last for a 2 day workshop or 1 hour session which focuses on lab training to learn new tools usage of which percolates new behaviors amongst target audience .
4. Share an example of one of a good design you have seen in recent times for an LD Program.
5. What are the present tools, resources, process which support Leaders Learning from Leaders in your organization ?
6. Where is the focus on LD in your organization ? On Formal classroom training sessions or informal social learning ?
7. What are the tools & platforms which support knowledge , best practices sharing ?
Does a training calendar gets published on recurrent basis for LD Programs ?
8. How many LD sessions got cancelled last month due to less enrollments ?
9. What is the average duration of a LD workshop in your organization ?
10. Do you leverage assessment center for assessing Leadership competencies ?
11. Would you rather prefer a short duration sessions at regular intervals for Leadership Development or one several months long intervention ?
12. How is the response to Blended Learning from senior leaders in your organization ?
13.What is the ususal response from Leaders in your company to a Leadership development program ? Do they consider it gyaan or fun ?
14. What makes Leaders take interest and be curious about a program that has been designed to address specific business challenge ?
15. What is the most pressing People / Leadership problem that you face in your organization ?
16. What keeps you wake at night ?
17. What when someone performed brilliantly well on your team last time ?
18. What was your response when one of your team member had a perfect recipe for disaster ? or actually had done a blunder ?
19. How often you spend time with your team members ? formally & informally
20. Do you like to coach ?
21. Do you have Executive Coaches capabilities developed in house ? Do you plan to invest in developing these capabilities in your team for organizational success ?
22. When was the last time you had much fun on a project at work ? Describe how did it feel like ?
23. Did you enjoy going through the above questionnaire ? then , go through some more...;-)
24. Is the focus on quality of LD program or operational efficiency or something else ?
25. What gets measured for your team performance ?
26. How does a typical scorecard for your team looks like ?
27. How many dollars were wasted due to non- participation by Senior Leaders in LD programs that were designed to solve business problems.
28. Are workshops conducted in house or at outside location ?
29. Which is that one book that you like going back to often ?
30. What does success look like for your team ?
31. Do you write , tweet , share yourself online ?

Thoughts on Leadership Development Program

What are the key expectations of Business Leaders , HR Leaders from participants after this program ?
Does performance gap exist in business in present situation ?
Are participants motivated to go through an extensive program ? ( Intrinsic motivation levels)
How much is peer support / Leader support available ?
What are the different forums for Leaders to bridge knowledge gaps ? Existing tools, methods, platforms, forums for knowledge sharing ?
What are the existing knowledge gaps of participants ?
Who can give us insights into the existing situation / as is situation at present ?
What are the expectations of participants from the Program ? ( In terms of knowledge building, skill & capability building )
What is the current motivation level of participants to complete this program ?
What is it that participants need to know which they do not know as present ? ( Knowledge gaps)
What are the main challenges Leaders face in their day to day operations ? ( Performance gaps)
What are the key skills participants would like to develop post completion of program ?
What are the new capabilities they would like develop as Business Leaders ?
Names of Leaders from business who have driven non linear growth successfully ?
What are the existing forums / methods for Strategic knowledge sharing ?
What are the current sources for gaining market insights, competitor information ?
Brief Profile of the organization ?
Roles and responsibilities of participants and their KRAs ?
Typical internal communications towards end customer deliverables ?
Typical customer engagements in Business .
Understand Business in depth ..( deck or presentation around same)
Understand Delivery process in depth ( deck or presentation around same)
Understand participants strengths and areas of improvement in relation to Strategic Alignment , Advanced Coaching, Customer Relationship Management
Understand challenges faced by participants in dealing with internal and external customers ?
What are the critical success factors for participants ?
What are existing tools, structure, processes in Business ( for this group of participants)
How would success look like to them ?
Key performance inhibitors ?
Assessment centre proposal with details ?
Who is the Facilitator who will facilitate X workshop ? Virtual or ILT ?
Who will facilitate Advanced Coaching session ? Content / Instruction methodology ?
4D of Execution - Content / role plays/ scenarios ? Details
Leader Broadcast ? What are the key themes ? What topics ? End goal ?
Anything else you think i should know .