Standing Ovation at IBM

Sukumar trigged a discussion on Standing Ovationon twitter today and hence this brief post .
If I have seen this far, it is on the shoulder of Giants ( IBM) 

It’s a well acknowledged fact that we in India seldom give standing ovations. By contrast Americans are significantly more generous with their standing ovations. Any hypotheses on why this is so?

— Sukumar Rajagopal (@rsukumar) September 18, 2019

 

I have received Standing Ovation twice in India ! Yayy Yayy :)
Sukumar, Do a simple Twitter poll. Indians don't give standing ovation as much as Americans

— Ruchi 🏳️‍🌈🌈 (@rucsb) September 18, 2019

  

Super Ruchi. Can you please do a post on what you did in that speech that might have contributed to the standing ovations?

— Sukumar Rajagopal (@rsukumar) September 18, 2019

 

First time, I received Standing Ovation from Pavan Vaish, CEO and  SLT Senior Leadership Team at IBM Daksh in 2009 for Implementing IBM BlueIQ Program as Country Lead in India.
I was awarded Most Valuable Ambassador award for my contributions .
I got opportunity to work and collaborate with Luis Suarez who is a friend till date . Yayy to 10 years of Friendship . Luis lives in Gran Canaria Isaland , Spain and travels world over for talks and Public Speaking 

Second time, I received Standing Ovation by New Hires for conducting Training session for new IBMers at Noida location where i trained them on IBM Collboration tools and Communities which are hotbeds of Innovation at IBM  . 
I was leading Enterprise wide Social Media Adoption Program as Country Lead for IBM India at that time. This role was over and above my day job as WorkForce Partner ( HR) at IBM in voluntary capacity as Stretch Assignment :-)

Hi

Wicked Problems for Policy Making

We learnt about Wicked Problems in Design Thinking class.

Complex problems like Education and Healthcare are good examples of Wicked problems.
Wicked problems are inherently complex , requires multi disciplinary approach and has 10 distinct characteristics 

Climate crisis will also fall under the category of wicked problem because the articulation is not straightforward and there can't be one simple or final solution.

I love this quote by Albert Einstein -

It's not that I'am so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.  - Albert Einstein

I have been researching ,speaking, articulating, lending voice  and stayed with few problems since many years . One of them is the problem of Gender Equality. 

108 Years: Wait for Gender Equality Gets Longer as Women’s Share of Workforce, Politics Drops

Networks are suggested as a resource for tackling wicked problems in this Nonprofit Quarterly reprint. 

What are common wicked problems? How are wicked problems different from other problems?

In their original work, Rittel and Webber suggested that wicked problems are typically those pertaining to governmental, social, or policy planning. Examples of wicked problems that have been addressed in scholarly literature include poverty, urban renewal, school curriculum design, education, environmental and natural resources policy.

In the Digital World that we live in, Regulatory Framework by Governments around Data privacy would also be categorised as  wicked problem

It's an open secret that FAANG companies ( Facebook , Apple, Amazon , Netflix, Google) are collecting lot of our personal data. We need Govt intervention for robust #Privacy policies regarding our Personal #data to prevent misuse. #PublicPolicy #India @GoI_MeitY

— Ruchi 🏳️‍🌈🌈 (@rucsb) August 10, 2019

Read Bill and Melinda Gate Annual letter 2019 to understand some wicked problems 

I discovered Trillion Dollar Coach fm Bill Gates tweets.His #books reccos r superb.For people who ponder & care deeply abt solving world's complex problems , Open Annual Letter by Bill & Melinda Gates is just the right Food for Thought #ProblemSolvers https://t.co/1t4qeYR0EX

— Ruchi 🏳️‍🌈🌈 (@rucsb) August 10, 2019

What wicked problems you are working on ? Who are the stakeholders involved ? 

How do you go about identifying the problem ? What are the solutions proposed ? 

Who are the sponsors ? 

Would love to hear your views on Wicked Problems in India. 

Open Letter to Women looking for Job Opportunities

Hello ,All Talented women who have taken a break from work for personal reasons for few years. Congratulations.  that now you have decided to join the workforce. Of course, you should. After all, all the education, talent, experience should be put to a greater use . Work is a part of our identity though we don't like to be described in terms of work alone.

I am writing a generic letter to all talented women who look for Career guidance. I list out few  Things that are well within your control which you can do to make yourself workforce ready . It will help put the best foot forward .

1. Network Network Network Why do I say so ? 80% of today's jobs are landed through networking . Network is your networth. Make use of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin . Reach out to folks who are willing to share their expertise, knowledge, experience and insights with you and learn from them. Open Forums and Knowledge groups are great platforms to find new friends , belong to a community, and ultimately land up job opportunities. If you are a HR Professional, I invite you to join WOWHR  https://twitter.com/WOWHR50, we discuss HR , help and support each other , Learn together and have Fun along with way :-)

2. Develop your Personal Brand – In simple words, raise your visibility. In a crowded job market, it pays off to differentiate yourself 
   
   
3. Reinvent Yourself – It means be open to take on a totally different avatar & be willing to do different stuff than what you have done before. Add new skills to your portfolio, take on new assignments even if it means a short term ( 2- 3 months) assignment. 
   
   
4. Social Media Management – Social Media has made all of us publishers. Write your own script and best narrative to showcase through Social Media. 
   
   
5. Join Communities of interest - Community means new friendships, new learnings, new relationships. Remember The strength of weak ties i.e., when applied in real world it means that weaker ties ironically are more helpful in landing jobs than one’s close friends. Twitter and Linkedin both are great houses for communities for a keen eye. If you cant find an interesting one, Hell yeah, start your own community and demonstrate your Leadership potential. 
   Follow Nischala's blog. She speaks through her heart  to women of all ages . You will find an instant connection and a friend in her blog.
   
   
6. Attend Conferences like Sheroes to Learn new things and meet interesting people once a year -If you havnt heard of Sheroes yet, you might be truly living under a rock. Register yourself on Sheroes. They are doing a great work for women community . Where else could I learn that there is a Venture Fund exclusively setup to fund and encourage Women Entrepreneurs.
   
   
7. Read Good Books – Read books related to your work interests to keep yourself sharp and stay upto date on latest trends. Need I say more ?:-) 
   
   
8. Believe in yourself – We all go through different phases in Life - Highs and Lows. Let the lows not affect you so much that you forget to swim. Keep learning , Keep navigating , Dream on new dreams and then make yourself busy to realize those dreams.

Stay connected :-) Share your story . I can be reached out via twitter @rucsb

Recruitment Marketing

Here are the 5 interesting articles on Recruitment Marketing this week i discovered .  I follow +William Tincup & FistFul of Talent for interesting insights on HR .

Key Insights from my Experience with Digital Ecosystem -

1. Websites are repositories of dead content , hence rise of Web 2.0 , Emerging Technologies, Social Media platforms
2. Social & mobile  has forced people to form new habits , on an avg every person checks in their smartphone several times a day.
3. People lead to discovery of new content and content leads to discovery of new people - key is to  engage employees to share interesting content that shapes conversations in favor of  Employer Brand .
4. Talent cant be hired, Talent can only be courted . Talent looks for an overall  experience , when it is positive at early stages, candidate's interest is piqued in the job/ role/  organization.

5. How does one cut through noise on the Social Media is the key. Key is to first identify the  communities of  talent and then do targeted messaging within those communities.

7. If communities don't exist, one needs to work through creation and building the talent communities first across hot skills in demand from both current scenario as well as futuristic point of view.

8. Visually appealing content goes viral quickly on Social Media

9. Social Media is a great platform for Social Listening . 

10. Twitter & Google search results are quiet useful and generate many insights to  pick clues from & act upon.

My take -  Recruitment Marketing is an interesting role at the intersection of HR, Marketing and Branding :-) 



 +Ruchi Bhatia
  

Future Ready WorkForce

Future Ready Workforce will constitute Individuals who are LifeLongLearners, who have the ability to learn, unlearn, relearn and reinvent themselves. Who are agile, and make  investment in self education and acquiring new skills.

Future ready workforce also mean networked and collaborative workforce. They know how to collaborate, create trust in virtual environment, reach out to experts across borders and locate expertise quickly at the tip of fingertips to create value for clients. 

Future ready workforce means individual employees may not have all the answers to client problems however have the skills to find the answers and reach out to experts.

Who knows what , who knows whom and who knows what you know  becomes utmost important , hence the value of networks.

Future ready workforce know how to manage work & get work done in a borderless economy.