Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, just revealed his mantra for dealing with employee morale. He has been at the forefront of building a successful brand. He has spent over four decades in making Whole Foods, one of the most valuable food brands in the world. From the early days in 1978, when he founded the company by raising $45,000 from friends and family to selling the network of grocery stores to Amazon for $13.7 in 2017, he has seen it all.

John Mackey is very sensitive to the needs of his employees. He understands that it takes great communication skills to nurture your team and help them grow in their careers. As a boss, you need to know that your employees hang on to each word you utter. You may not know it, but they are mindful of every word you speak.

Criticism Vs Praise

John describes his experience when visiting a store on Freakonomics Radio, “I can give 10 compliments, but the one criticism devastates the morale.”

People are very sensitive to what their leaders have to say. So, communication needs careful consideration, else it can demotivate and demoralize the team.

Mackey has the distinction of building a supermarket chain that employs more than 90,000 employees and operates in over 500 locations. He says, “Because I am the founder, the CEO, I have a larger-than-life impact on the team members. They want ‘daddy’ to really love the store, and they don’t want criticism.”

He understands that it is hard for people to take criticism, especially, when you’ve not established trust with them. When times are turbulent, people are more susceptible to emotions & it could easily have a counterintuitive effect.

Establishing Trust

Mackey further elaborates his point, “In my experience, criticism will only be received by people if there’s a high degree of trust. If there’s trust, and people know that you care about them, then their self-esteem is less threatened. Because self-esteem is not usually very high with most people, you have to be very sensitive to the criticisms.”

While feedback is important, how you deliver the right inputs matter a lot. Employees are generally vulnerable, when there is critical feedback from the top leader. So, what is the solution? Mackey reveals his approach & says, “I know this. So, what I do is I give nothing but praise when I’m in the store.”

But is everything always rosy? Not quite, then how do you let people know when something is wrong. As a leader, it is your responsibility to find out things that need improvement, point out areas where the team is doing things wrong and let them correct things. Mackay uses an effective strategy for this, “If I see some problems, I might tell the store team leader, kind of one on one. But I try to not offer criticisms when I’m there, because they’re just too powerful, ” says Mackey.

When Mackey is touring a store, he insists on making positive remarks and catching people doing the right things. He reserves his critical feedback for one to one meetings with store leaders. A very pragmatic approach that has helped him build his supermarket chain.

“Trust is a fundamental factor in how employees receive feedback,” as per M. Tamra Chandler, an author & researcher into employee performance. It corroborates the point John Mackay made about feedback.

People are fearful and apprehensive of the feedback. Chandler says, “It is very physical, the reaction that people have to feedback.”

The amount of trust that employees have in their leaders affects their level of fear. When the employees have a strong trust, they’re more open and receptive to feedback. But when they don’t trust their leader, they are fearful & their performance also decreases.

Positive Interactions

When employees and leaders have positive interactions, it builds trust between them. These interactions help build rapport with your team. It puts them at ease, helps them to understand your viewpoint & connect with you as a leader.

Mackey says about his interactions with employees, “they don’t know me well enough to know they can trust me.” It takes time for leaders to win trust of their employees, Mackey says, “it is a long process. So, we should be very judicious in our criticism.”

Mackey recommends using positive interactions by catching people doing the right things. He says, “So, I definitely believe in positive reinforcement. And then if you do enough positive reinforcement, people are going to be in a place where they can receive the critical feedback. That gives you permission to give negative feedback. That’s actionable. So, we just need to be careful about it. And if you can’t do it, you’re going to be the type of leader that people avoid.”

Leaders need to be very careful that their teammates don’t develop apathy towards them. When strong relationships are built and trust is established, it gives freedom to leaders to communicate openly with their teams. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey shows why empathy & emotional intelligence is important for leaders. It helps them establish trust and rapport to build winning teams.

Improving your emotional intelligence can help you understand and connect better with others. It can help you develop stronger relationships, handle conflicts effectively & rise up the ladder of leadership. Success at work is no longer limited to your cognitive abilities, it needs emotional intelligence to have a deep perception of people and the world around you.

Emotionally intelligent people understand their emotions and feelings. They also understand the emotions and feelings of other people. They use the emotional understanding and information to guide their thinking and behaviour, to adapt and achieve one’s goals.

A study done by TalentSmart measured 33 workplace skills, intriguingly emotional intelligence was the strongest predictor of performance, and accounted for 58% of success in all types of jobs. 90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence, whereas only 20% bottom performers have high emotional intelligence. 

Another fascinating study on emotional intelligence followed 80 scientists over the course of forty years. It found that social and emotional abilities were four times more important than IQ in determining professional success and prestige.

Several studies have shown a strong correlation between high emotional intelligence and top performance. So, here are some practical ways to improving your emotional intelligence:

1. Develop Routines

Emotionally intelligent people develop routines. They take practical steps to trigger their day to day activities. For e.g. the most influential and effective leaders have morning routines. They start their day by running, exercising or meditating. They follow their routines each day without fail.

These routines help them get in the right frame of mind to take the day forward. It sets them up in the right mood to carry out challenging tasks at work. Build a morning routine that can help you start your day on a positive note. You can start with a 5 minute walk, then gradually increase it by 5 minutes every week, until you can devote 25-30 minutes at least.

2. Action Bias

It is easy to be moody, turbulent and lose focus of the most important things in life. But these things are not going to matter in the long run. The distractions today will be worthless tomorrow. Emotionally intelligent individuals are self driven, they are focused, they control their emotions and feelings to achieve their goals.

Overcoming inertia and impulsiveness requires you to take action. Successful people take actions. They don’t clutter their heads with unnecessary disturbances. They do what is needed. Eliminate things that don’t help you reach your goals and overcome hurdles by taking actions

3. Managing Relationships

Good relationships are integral to success in the workplace today. Whether it is your subordinates, family or your colleagues, managing relationships can be a key step to your career & family goals.

People who have emotional intelligence are able to manage their relationships better, they handle conflicts, negotiations and develop interpersonal interactions effectively. 

Learning to manage & dealing with other people requires you to respect their perspective. Good leaders develop the art of understanding the feelings and emotions of others. They are able to rally behind a common goal despite the difference of opinions & make use of collective strength for overcoming difficult problems.

4. People Focus

In the modern workplace and life, technology and work takes priority for everyone. It is easy to lose focus of people. Individuals and high achievers are good at recognizing the feelings of others. They also develop their ability to decipher their verbal and nonverbal cues. For e.g. a colleague who is attending to a family emergency may not be fully tuned to work. An emotionally intelligent colleague will go the extra mile to make his colleague comfortable.

Small acts like this can go a long way in building good culture, strengthening your relationships and making a difference to the people around you. Emotionally intelligent people have a strong focus on people around them.

It is people who drive systems, technology and work, not the other way around. A people centric focus also helps individuals understand their client needs and wants, before they articulate them. Whether it is the organisation, family or clients, a people focused approach pays rich dividends.

5. Control Emotional Triggers

Emotional triggers cause impulsive behaviour. When you are emotionally turbulent, it can make you a vulnerable target. People who move up the ladder of leadership in various spheres know how to control their emotions.

Emotionally intelligent individuals don’t react instantly. They control their impulses and evaluate the situation before they respond. For e.g. when something is wrong, how you point out the correction is more important than the correction itself. Your task is to get the correction done, not to make the other person feel down for his mistake.

When something angers you, take a moment out, ignore and evaluate things in the proper perspective. Reacting impulsively can damage relationships and hurt other people. Sometimes, a detached and calm approach works best for things we care about the most.

6. Intersection of Goals & Happiness

Emotional intelligence leads to great results, but not at the cost of people. Organisations are in a state of flux due to dynamic and demanding work priorities. It can make leaders feel threatened, overwhelmed and take a short term view of things, this is where emotional intelligence matters.

People with high emotional intelligence are able to develop a deep rooted understanding of individuals and teams. They help each other become more effective in their work, derive happiness in reaching shared goals and progress as individuals too.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to align people in the right direction to display their passion, creativity and potential. They take cues to make sure their teams are happy and aligned to what they are doing.

7. Self Analysis 

Improving your emotional intelligence requires self analysis. It needs self awareness. Do you understand yourself well? Do you take time out to reflect on how you are doing? Self evaluation is critical to developing and improving emotional intelligence.

Successful people are able to spend their energy doing what they love and want. They do things that matter the most. They are able to channelise their energies, thoughts and emotions.

When you radiate positivity in your actions and mind, it draws people towards you. On the other hand, negativity will distance others from you. Successful persons use positive emotions to inspire, influence, and create an impact in things they do.

Think about how you use your time, thoughts and energy. Are you able to spend them as well as you can? Great results and success is never achieved by chance. Be conscious, self aware and take time to reflect on how you can improve things you are doing.

Continue reading “9 Amazing Takeaways from TrailBlazer by Marc Benioff” →

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The world affairs have changed a lot in the last year or so. However, even with Covid the happiness levels around the world have remained largely unchanged as per a survey from Ipsos. The Global Happiness 2020 survey shows that 63% of the people around the world are happy compared to 63% last year. Here’s a look at what makes people happy.

The Global Happiness survey was conducted in 27 countries and 19,516 adults participated in it. Each country had over 1,000 participants. Overall, happiness levels do not show significant changes, but there are countries which showed a decline of more than eight percent like Peru, Mexico, India, Chile and the US. There are also countries which showed an increase of more than eight percent namely China, Russia, Malaysia & Argentina.

The participants were asked these questions – Taking all things together, would you say you are: very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not happy at all. Next, they were asked about things that made them happy. For e.g. Having more money: Does or could give me greatest happiness, does or could give me some happiness, doesn’t or couldn’t make me happy or happier, does not apply to me.

63% adults around the globe reported being happy, 11% of them reported being very happy and 52% rather so. Among the 27 countries surveyed, China with 93% had the highest percentage of happy adults. The Netherlands was second with 87% people who were happy, followed by Saudi Arabia at 80%.

France & Canada were fourth and the fifth on the list with each having 78% happy people. Countries with the highest percentage of adults considering themselves as very happy were Saudi Arabia 30%, India 22%, and the Netherlands 20%.

Least Happy

The countries which had the highest percentage of people who were not happy were Peru with 68%, Chile with 66% & Spain with 62% adults. They were at the bottom with least happy people in the countries surveyed.

Only six countries had less than 50% people who were happy. Compared to the global average of 63% who reported being happy, Peru, Chile & Spain, only had 32%, 34% & 38% happy adults respectively. Argentina, Hungry & Mexico were the other three countries with 43%, 45% & 46% happy people.

Sources of Happiness

Most people around the world derive joy from simple things like physical well being, relationships with spouse, family & children. It is not material riches or wealth, but health and physical well being that is rated as the greatest source of happiness by most people. Relationships, health and safety were rated as the major factors that made people happy in the Covid affected world.

Having more money was ranked tenth on the source of happiness for people. The top ten sources of happiness for people are as follows:

Money & Happiness

Does money buy happiness? Well, 40% of the individuals rated money as the source of their greatest happiness. While 85% of people said money made them happier. Money and financial situations do affect the happiness of people, but only upto a point. When the basic necessities and needs of people are met, money does not have a major impact on their happiness.

An interesting study by the Nobel Laureate, Kahneman & Deaton in 2010 revealed,“money can only buy happiness up to about $75,000 – after that, it has no significant effect on our emotional well-being.”

In the survey, South Africa is the place where maximum people (58%) rated money as their greatest source of happiness. Brazil (56%) & Saudi Arabia (53%) were the second and third respectively.

Time on Social Media

According to emarketer research, an average adult in the US spends 1 hour, 22 minutes every day on social media. People all over the world spend a fairly notable amount of time on social media. Does Social Media make people happy? The study had some interesting insights. More than 55% of the people said, social media does not make them happy.

The global average of people who derived happiness from social media was 45%. China has been home to some of the most popular social media and gaming platforms in the world. No surprise that 84% of Chinese people were happy using social media, followed by 73% in Malaysia and 70% in Turkey.

Meaning in Life

Beyond personal safety and security, meaning in life is one of the greatest sources of happiness for people. 43% of the people rated feeling in control of their lives as their greatest happiness factor. 43% considered having a meaningful job or employment as the source of their joy. The satisfaction with the direction of how life is going was rated by 40% as a prime happiness factor.

Human beings are driven by meaning and our day to day experiences contribute to our happiness. Beyond a certain level, it is not money but meaningful involvement in something that drives human happiness. A research by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade in 2005 confirms, “Most of our happiness is not determined by our genetics, but by our experiences and our day-to-day lives.”

Decline in Happiness

The study also indicated declining levels of happiness since 2011. While the global happiness average was pegged at 77% in 2011, it has declined to 63% in 2020. The number of people who said they were happy has diminished by 14% globally.

Mexico & Turkey have seen a drop of 32% & 30% respectively in happiness levels according to the survey. While several other countries have seen a decline of over 20% since 2011 in the happiness survey.

South Africa, Spain, Argentina and India are some of the other countries where happiness levels have dropped by over 20%. China is the only country where people have reported being happier than 2011. Infact, 78% of Chinese people reported being happy in 2011 compared to 93% in 2020.

Andrew Carnegie was one of the most successful and rich persons in America. He was an American business magnate who made a great fortune in the steel industry and became one of the richest persons in history. Carnegie had migrated to the US from Scotland in 1848 at the age of 12. What made Andrew Carnegie rich in terms of wealth, impact & legacy he left behind is an inspiring tale.

Andrew Carnegie took up work as a telegrapher and then railroad jobs in the early part of his career. He kept moving at great pace and soon started his business. He owned Carnegie Steel Corporation in 1889, which was the largest Steel Company & sold it to JP Morgan in 1901 for over $300 million at the time. He surpassed John Rockfeller as the richest American for many years.

Andrew Carnegie was not just a successful business man, but a noted philanthropist too. He donated a large share of his wealth for charitable causes around the world. As per wikipedia, he donated approximately $350 million, which is equivalent to $76.9 billion (adjusted to 2015 share of GDP figures).

Andrew Carnegie Secret

Andrew Carnegie’s success story is captivating. He represents the epitome of the American dream. The son of a migrant, who worked odd jobs and built one of the most successful business empires of all time. He also dedicated a large share of his time and wealth for philanthropic causes.

So, what was the secret to Andrew Carnegie’s success? There goes an old story about Carnegie that reveals it. When Carnegie accumulated great wealth in a hurry, people started suspecting something wrong. Even the government officials suspected something fishy and so they set-up an investigation. What made Andrew Carnegie rich beyond regular standards at the time? The US Senate commissioned Andrew Carnegie and asked him questions to learn more on his business. They interrogated him from all angels and possibilities and finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong.

Finally, one of them asked Andrew Carnegie, how did you manage to make so much money and become successful so fast? To which Carnegie revealed his secret of success, his words were very simple, but profound. He said, “I can keep my mind focused on something for five minutes at a stretch.” Just five minutes. Everyone was surprised to hear this. They thought he must be joking. Andrew Carnegie asked the members, “Can any of you do it?”
Everyone thought they could and started the experiment. But none of them could focus their mind on anything for even a few seconds. This is the nature of the mind, it is restless.

Andrew Carnegie had mastered the ability to keep his mind focused and attentive. He could explore new opportunities, visualise creative schemes and implement them with huge success due to his ability to pay attention. He had mastered the art of keeping an attentive mind, observed things with openness and receptivity, which helped him unlock great treasures. Others missed it, because they couldn’t pay attention, the same way Carnegie did it.

True Riches

Carnegie once said, “The money I have accumulated is but a minor fraction of my real riches.” At his peak, Carnegie had a networth of about $372 billion in today’s dollar terms. It would make him one of the wealthiest persons ever and richer than anyone on the planet currently. Carnegie’s riches and prosperity were a result of things he did with absolute care, love and attention.

Andrew Carnegie in an interview with Dale Carnegie told him, “Controlled attention magnetizes the brain with the nature of one’s dominating thoughts, aims, and purposes, thus causing one to be always in search of every necessary thing that is related to one’s dominating thoughts.”

When your dominating thoughts, attention and focus are aligned on something you want to achieve, you invariably achieve it. Andrew Carnegie had mastered the art of keeping his focused attention on the object of his desire. To keep your mind focused on something for five minutes is a great skill & one that pays rich dividends.

A Great Legacy

Carnegie had a doctrine of spending the first one-third of life learning, the second one-third accumulating wealth and the last one third in distributing money for worthy causes. Use of wealth for improving society and the lives of people was one of Carnegie’s most important objectives in life.

Andrew Carnegie donated his money for establishing trusts & institutions including Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Hall, Peace Palace, Carnegie Institution of Science (CMU), Carnegie Trust for Universities of Scotland etc. These institutions have stood the test of time and stand today as a symbol of endurance, excellence and human values, several years after Carnegie’s death in 1919.

To sum it up, Andrew Carnegie was one of the most influential persons of the world. He remains a respected person even 100 hundred years after this death due to his rich legacy. A legacy he had built with his charismatic leadership and energy. His journey from getting $2 ($59 adjusted for inflation today) per week to building a $352 billion empire is an inspiring tale for entrepreneurs around the world. The human race moves forward owing to great leadership of people like Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie taught people a very simple mantra to put all attention, energy and focus into the work you’re doing. He said, “The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”

Continue reading “Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success” →

The World Economic Forum recently concluded a study on Risks of Doing Business in 2020. This year it was overwhelmingly clouded by the Corona pandemic. As the world goes through out of the ordinary situations, business leaders have had a daunting task of tackling the unexpected. As if the risks from business disruptions, innovations and political landscapes weren’t enough, they now have to worry about diseases & their impact on proceedings. And it is keeping them awake at nights.

Top Risks of Doing Business in 2020

The World Economic Forum conducted the survey this year between Jan & July. The leaders were asked to select the top five risks from the list of 30. They were asked to choose the biggest risk doing their business in countries they operate for the next 10 years.

The WEF study was done with the participation of over 12,000 business leaders from 128 countries. This year unemployment was seen as the toughest risk and the most hard pressing problem faced by businesses. 2020 has seen shutdowns that has affected life on the planet like never before. Several businesses had to face extended lockdowns and it has affected employment for several industries including travel & tourism, manufacturing & transportation etc.

Unemployment is the Top Concern

Unemployment or underemployment remains the concern of 34.5% business leaders. The scale of the corona pandemic coupled with the rising automation & AI is replacing human jobs. In the 2019 report, underemployment and unemployment was at the third spot with 28.5%.

Spread of infectious diseases was the next biggest concern with 32%. The rising cases of infections around the world has meant office spaces could be at a potential risk of infections. The spread of infectious diseases wasn’t among the top 10 in 2019’s list. But this year, it has risen to the second spot on the list & understandably so.

Fiscal crises is ranked third on the list of business risks this year. The 2020 year has seen major economic upheavals and distressed organisations. Fiscal crises was rated as a major business risk by 26.5% CEOs in 2020 compared to 28.9% in the preceding year. Last year it was at the top of the business risks perceived by the leaders. The Fiscal crises are marked by a financial, economic, technology, political as well as social dimensions. All these have been affected with uncertainties this year.

As companies are proliferating the usage of technology and digitisation. Most organisations are now providing their business services using softwares and services that deploy data on the cloud. The increasing threats of Cyberattacks is worrying for the business leaders. Cyberattacks were regarded as the major business risk by 26.1% CEOs this year. Theft of data, security breaches and malicious cyber attacks are something business leaders want to guard against. Cyberattacks were ranked second biggest business risk in 2019 with 28.2% share. This year it has been nudged to the fourth spot.

The fifth major business risk was profound social instability with 26.1% share. The uncertainties, political instability and risks have increased the social instability in the world. Many countries saw expatriates leave for their home countries. The US itself witnessed major controversies and protests against racial bias. Social instability has a huge economical and political impact. Profound social instability was rated as sixth top business risk in 2019 and received 23.5% responses. There has been a social unrest with the ongoing events around the world contributing to the increased business risk.

Balance of Power Shifting

The global businesses are also facing uncertainties with the disruptions brought about by the events this year. The world order has been affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Trade & governance have been impacted in a big way. As per IMF data & Bloomberg report, China has emerged stronger than ever before due to the pandemic. China & India will play a major role in global growth. The contribution of China in the worldwide GDP growth will increase from 26.8% in 2021 to 27.7% in 2025 & India’s contribution will increase from 10.2% in 2021 to 13% in 2025. China & India will be at the forefront of global GDP growth leaving behind all other economies.

Globalisation and trade across countries was also affected this year. Many businesses had a tough time to source goods and their supply chains were affected. The IMF forecasts world GDP to shrink 4.4% this year. The forecast for the next year is optimistic and growth is predicted to be 5.2%.

The global business leaders will have their work cut out as they charter unknown territories.
The rising inequalities, job losses and geopolitical issues will warrant all their ingenuities for creating a better future. There could be a silver lining with Covid-19 that it has given us a chance to reimagine things from the ground up, it has given us a break to think and build a more meaningful world for everyone around us.

The organisations of the future will not be built by the skills of the past. Businesses need to be able to create ample space for innovative work, reskilling of employees and creative freedom to attract the right talent pool. The digital technologies have been increasing the divide between skilled and unskilled workers. There is a higher premium on niche skills and employees are looking at companies that can offer them a good platform for learning and advancing their careers.

In a recent interview to the World Economic Forum, Jonas Prising, CEO & Chairman, Manpower Group said, skilled talent is going to be and continue to be the competitive advantage to many organisations.”

Given the improvement in healthcare, the professionals today have a longer career span than anytime in the past. It is common to see people working actively in corporations even in their late sixties & seventies. So, young professionals want to enter and work in organisations that offer them a shot at learning and growth. The skills that they build at the workplace are crucial tools for their future. Here’s a look at how organisations can attract the best talent pool:

1. Offer New Skills

Are employees better off having worked in your company than before? Do they acquire the skills that make them valued professionals? Are they constantly getting opportunities to learn and contribute? The skills needed for success in the corporate and technological world are never stagnant. Hence reskilling and learning is the only route to survive and succeed today.

Organisations that offer new skills to their employees are able to attract the talent they need. Learning and application of new skills is one of the sure fire ways to move up the ladder of a professional career. Businesses that create formal and informal programs for learning, skilling their employees and experimenting are becoming more popular among teams today.

2. Mentorship

We live in a world of uncertainties and chaos. Young professionals have to deal with a lot of tough situations. They need to be mentally strong to contribute their best. Many times, someone with experience and knowledge can guide them through these difficult situations. They can provide them the guidance and direction to handle things.

Organisations that invest in mentorship of their employees tend to retain them longer. A mentor could help in grooming a professional. The mentor understands the weaknesses and strengths of his mentees and helps him develop the right skills to grow in his personal as well as professional career. These relationships go a long way in creating strong bonds and cementing the place of organisations among employees.

3. Reward Excellence

What gets rewarded, gets repeated in organisations. When excellence is rewarded, it establishes the right culture. No business can survive on the glory of their past achievements. The value creation has to be perpetual. Rewarding results that lead to value creation for customers and organisations is consequential to the teams.

The best companies have developed models for measuring employee productivity, work efficiency and quality of deliverables in concrete terms. Good understanding of these metrics helps employees contribute effectively to organisational as well as their personal growth.

4. Opportunity to Build Great Things

Companies don’t survive by serving mediocre stuff for long. Sooner or later, companies that succeed are those that deliver standout products and services. The rest just disappear with time. Employees are driven towards companies that are chasing greatness. When companies are structured to build great products, they will attract talent.

Many companies are satisfied with ordinary products and services. But that approach is counterproductive in the long run. With digital technologies, the winner takes all. The customers are always looking for the best. A culture of innovation, relentless experiments and result oriented work breeds success. As an employee, when you build great stuff, it can help you rise in your career beyond your thoughts. The greatest products build the greatest professionals.

5. Build a Community

Great companies are prominent in their communities. They are an important source of positive change. The very existence of these companies is helpful to people around them. They either represent a meaningful cause or help their customers meet their hard pressing needs. A strong community driven company is able to attract and retain a strong following.

A mission oriented company goes beyond making a profit. It builds a community and attracts talent. For e.g. Salesforce has built a strong following and community to serve the underrepresented segment. They pledge 1% of their time and resources for philanthropy. They are encouraging other entrepreneurs and teams to be part of this mission too.

Employees are more than happy to be part of such companies and missions. It is the willingness of human beings to find their highest expressions through the work they do.

6. Flexibility & Freedom

A survey conducted by FlexJobs revealed that working parents & professionals rated work flexibility as the top most factor in a job. 84% of them ranked it the top most priority. The flexible work policies have emerged as a strong need for the modern day employees. It helps them stay productive, engaged and maintain their work-life balance.

The digital technologies are ensuring that employees can stay connected to their workplace without their physical presence. The onus is on the tasks being done, not the mere presence of individuals. It gives space and flexibility to employees where they can focus on the most important things. They can save time commuting, attend to their life needs and at the same time contribute to work as per the demands.

Freedom is another facet where employees can contribute creatively. The top companies encourage employees to explore things on their own and give them freedom to come up with new ideas, innovations and do stuff that creates value for individuals as well as their organisations. It is also about treating people as individuals and giving them the respect they deserve to bring out their best.

Organisations will leap forward and gain a competitive advantage based on how they skill their teams for the future.

Continue reading “Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell” →

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