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Tag: Management

Emotional Intelligence at Work: The Key to Anger Management

Emotional Intelligence at Work: The Key to Anger Management

December 22, 2023

Anger management is highly essential in the workplace, particularly when it comes to boosting emotional intelligence and cultivating an atmosphere of positive leadership. Anger is a universally recognised emotion that everyone is familiar with. It can sometimes be a blessing, but more often than not, a bane. Getting out of control and regretting actions/words spurred by anger is avoidable, especially in the workplace. “Developing emotional intelligence can significantly improve anger management, helping individuals respond to anger with clarity and control.” Workplace anger can be tackled by the right strategies, along with a deep-rooted effort to enhance EI (emotional intelligence). This refers to the ability to regulate and understand emotions, while also understanding and sensing others’ emotions accordingly. Those with higher emotional intelligence are usually better managers and leaders while performing better at work, especially in terms of building superior interpersonal relationships. Those without empathy often have problems adjusting to diverse and unique work environments. Here is a closer look at anger management strategies and other information that can help. What Emotional Intelligence Entails Noted psychologist Daniel Goleman has broken down EI into five core elements in his book Emotional Intelligence. He feels that EI matters even more than the IQ of an individual. Here are these components:  Constructive Ways to Manage Anger Anger management can be implemented constructively as a way of life. EI is vital for helping people choose anger that is constructive in place of the corresponding destructive nature of anger. Healthy anger means pausing and reflecting on feelings, sensations, and thoughts instead of reacting to anything. Anger is a distraction and reaction to negative emotions and suffering in most cases. Anger stems from any perceived threat to physical and emotional well-being and also core needs and desires. Identifying the same will help understand arousal and triggers better. Empathy can be an excellent buffer against anger that is destructive, inclusive of verbal and physical aggression towards other individuals. It helps recognise the inherent humanity in not just oneself, but also others. The Connection between Anger and Emotional Intelligence Workplace anger and other occurrences can be tackled by boosting emotional intelligence. Those with higher EI are usually seen to demonstrate lower aggression. Those with lower EI are more prone towards anger in workplace environments. Several psychological advantages of higher emotional intelligence are evident, including better anger control in place of negative reflection or suppression outward. Training in building emotional intelligence can also affect the management of anger arousal. Every individual can learn skills for boosting emotional intelligence and subsequently grow resilience to tackle several negative effects such as anger. Cognitive behavioural techniques can also be learnt for regulating emotions better while identifying distortions in thought processes. Anger Management Strategies to Follow  For dealing better with workplace anger, here are some anger management strategies that may help.   The biggest thing to remember about anger is that it is not always an enemy that you have to vanquish. Rather, once the root cause is identified and you can reflect on your arousal triggers, it can be channelled into constructive and productive thoughts and actions. Embracing proper anger management will help foster better workplace environments and inculcate better leadership. FAQs Why is emotional intelligence crucial in the workplace, particularly in the context of anger management? Emotional intelligence is vital in the workplace, especially for anger management. EI  helps people cultivate and develop empathy and identify the triggers behind anger better. It helps control anger better and channel it into constructive actions. How can employees develop and improve their emotional intelligence for better anger management at work? Employees can certainly develop and enhance their emotional intelligence for better anger management at the workplace. Some of the ways include following a mentally healthy lifestyle, taking time-outs or breaks whenever there is any emotional surge, reflecting and identifying the root causes of anger, meditation, mindfulness techniques, and deep breathing. What are some common signs that indicate a lack of emotional intelligence in the workplace, and how does this relate to anger issues? Some of the signs that indicate a lack of emotional intelligence in the workplace include perpetually blaming others, difficulty in asserting oneself, inability to cope with stressful situations, feeling easily misunderstood or stressed, holding grudges, and lacking empathy for others. It relates to anger issues, since all of these may be triggers for outbreaks of anger and avoidable verbal/physical aggression. 

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Leadership Strategies for Reducing Stress in Your Team

Leadership Strategies for Reducing Stress in Your Team

November 20, 2023

Stress-Relief Leadership Stress is unavoidable not just in your personal life, but also at your workplace and while working with teams. However, stress reduction in teams is imperative in order to boost productivity and achieve collective goals without burnout or negativity being a part of the process. Stress at the workplace may crop up due to several factors including conflicts, deadlines, huge workloads, organisational changes, and more.”Effective leaders support a stress team by modeling healthy habits and showing how to handle stress in leadership with calm problem solving and open communication.”“To handle stress in leadership, leaders should practice effective stress management by staying self-aware, prioritizing tasks, and fostering open communication within their teams.” Effective stress management for leaders is essential, as managing stress as a leader directly impacts team performance, decision-making, and overall organizational success. Both leadership stress and team stress can impact workplace morale if not addressed properly. Leadership stress management and counseling services for engineers in high-stress roles are increasingly available in Sweden to support well-being and long-term performance. Effective leadership stress management is essential because unchecked leadership stress can negatively impact decision-making and team morale. Based on reports, close to 60% of employees have witnessed negative effects owing to stress at the workplace. These include lower motivation, interest, or energy levels along with decreased work efforts or performance. “To exercise effective stress management, leaders should prioritize self-awareness and clear communication, which are essential for managing leadership stress in demanding environments.” Being a leader, it is important to prioritise team stress management. The first step is to understand the impact that stress has on everyone in the team and then come up with leadership strategies to manage the same more effectively. Stress management is increasingly being regarded as a crucial part of strong leadership and here are some techniques that you can follow to achieve the same.  Leadership Development and Stress Management- What’s the Connection?  Leadership and team stress management have an intrinsic connection that you should highlight. Stress management is a vital part of leadership development. Leaders are required to not just support or guide teams but also make vital decisions, and manage diverse organisational priorities. These may sometimes lead to higher stress levels which may affect not just your ability to effectively lead teams, but lead to your employees getting stressed as well.  Here are some ways in which stress may directly affect leadership:  Now that you have an idea of how leadership and team stress are connected, here are a few leadership strategies that you can employ to get things back on track.  Leadership strategies for stress reduction in teams Here are a few team stress management tips that will help you manage things better.  Some Other Tips for Leaders Here are some other tips that will help you achieve stress reduction in teams at the office.  Leadership strategies for managing stress at the workplace should focus on promoting a culture of open communication, well-being, and mindfulness throughout teams and the organisation at large. Leaders should model healthy behaviours for stress management that can be adapted by their teams for a healthier and happier environment at work.  FAQs How can open communication and transparency be leveraged to alleviate stress within a team? Transparency and open communication can be used to reduce stress within teams. This encourages people to talk about issues that are bothering them and seek solutions from colleagues and leaders. It naturally helps people stay in sync with each other with fewer communication gaps.  What role does work-life balance play in leadership approaches aimed at reducing stress in the workplace? Work-life balance has a vital role to play in leadership approaches that are aimed at lowering workplace stress. Leaders should encourage employees to prioritise self-care and mental health along with empowering them with efficient resources and tools to get work done more productively. Leaders should also encourage teams to take time off, take breaks, engage in other activities, and exercise.  Are there specific techniques or practices leaders can employ to foster a stress-resistant team culture? There are several techniques and practices that can be employed by leaders to foster a stress-resistant team culture. These include mindfulness, self-care, open and transparent communication, prioritising and time management, delegation, and more. 

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How to overcome the challenges of Managing Time: One Question, Many Approaches

How to overcome the challenges of Managing Time: One Question, Many Approaches

December 27, 2017

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” —Albert Einstein While the struggle against time has existed since the beginning of time, tackling it requires a new approach today. We are all so well-connected now that we often disregard the notion and value of productive hours, which varies from person to person. This timeless conundrum has intrigued economists and sociologists alike. So we as an organization, which harps on productivity, tried to understand how people around the world manage their time. In a small social media poll conducted by us, an open call for suggestions from experts yielded a number of valuable insights and solutions. CEO Abhishek Rungta’s question—What’s your best time management and/or productivity tip?—was met with voluble replies across social media forums like Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #mytip. Here’s a compilation of what the savants have had to say about the matter. The importance of spacing your work out Serial entrepreneur Mr. Prashant Pansare’s take on the issue involves compartmentalizing chores and prioritizing while planning in order to achieve the immediate goals you’ve set for yourself. He suggests : Slice the workload into smaller tasks based on different focus/methods Keep two uninterrupted hours for the most important work that you can do by yourself Keep an hour aside for unplanned activities that can’t be rescheduled, like important phone calls In case of business meetings, define the outcome expected along with agenda. It is best to avoid email clutter, for eg. asking to be CC’ed Pansare (@PrashantPansare) addresses the unfortunate customer/client trend in India, where the outcome is generally demanded immediately; he adds that expediency must sometimes be sacrificed for priority and time management. Besides maintaining a weekly planner, he also advocates making a note of the amount of work done, work left, time spent, and time wasted over the last week to get a clear idea on the aspect of time management that needs to be worked upon. UNmultitask: Delegating is the key to perfection Nirupam Chaudhuri of NASSCOM and Srish Agrawal of A1 Future share the same opinion about multitasking and urge everyone to pick and focus on one thing at a time. Agrawal (@srishagrawal) says, “Multitasking sounds great but not a great idea for most serious jobs. Delegate, and delegate more as you grow.” He also advises against ad-hoc meetings, encouraging young professionals to have a fixed time and agenda for every meeting. Regional Director at NASSCOM, Chaudhuri rightly adjudges, “Smart working is the need of the time. Rather than finishing all jobs at hand perfectly and thus perhaps not doing justice to all which require parallel processing, it’s perhaps more important to optimise and stick to timelines for jobs at hand.” Give yourself credit for small targets Andy Vale sends pearls of wisdom and motivation all the way from Spain, asking beginners to face each day and each task at a time: “Just pick one thing every day that you will definitely get done. Doesn’t have to be massive, but it makes sure you’ve done something.” (@AndyVale)  Keep your work hours free of social media Kuntal Chandra, Senior Software Engineer at Stockopedia (@kuntalchandra) gives voice to the problems of distraction and lack of sustained focus that internet and technology have brought in its wake. Offering a valuable hack from his personal experience, he has found that turning the mobile internet off while coding has helped him prevent distractions and thus “become more productive”. Students who often face this problem especially before examinations have also fallen back on methods like keeping a particular time of day aside exclusively for social media networking and other internet-driven distractions like games and films. For professionals who need complete silence and isolation to get their creative juices flowing, don’t think twice before turning the WiFi off. It will cut the flow of excess information which at times can be a major deterrent. Conquering time as an economical construct comes with great patience and perseverance, as is evident from these pro-tips brought to you, straight from the horses’ mouths. It takes active willingness and effort on your part to make the ticking hands work in your favour. Each person has their own way of dealing with inertia at work and means to fuel one’s productivity. “We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.” —Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO Today, the productivity industry is faced with overcoming new challenges and assisting students, young professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs in this brave, new world. Large organizations have pulled up their socks, geared to help achieve new heights and set new standards in terms of time manageability. App and office suite developers are harnessing this demand for structured and strategic means to use productive hours based on individual needs. In order to track, analyze and manage time more effectively, iPhone has recently launched a productivity tool called Time which claims to help you “stay focused and crush procrastination”. Most timers like this use the Pomodoro technique (which enables users to break their work hours into intervals of 25 minutes separated by short breaks). Apps like Slack, WeTransfer, and Germ make working from different parts of the world a piece of cake. Task management tools like Journmail are easily accessible for teaching yourself consistency by writing every day. There are also apps like Slite to help you take down notes on the go faster; Feather is a daily management goal tracker that helps maintain a to-do list. There are customised music apps with ambient playlists like Noisli and ASoftMurmur which cause a visible jump in the concentration level. An endless number of apps are available to designers and illustrators with pitch decks, icon templates, UI kits and layouts in place, thus saving a lot of time. Popular among these are Crello, Sans Francisco, SpeedFont, Emblem, Animista. There are plenty of similar applications and patches that could prove effective for young professionals. Can

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How to Resolve Conflicts Like a Boss and Avoid Stress

October 12, 2016

When you are managing a team or when you are heading your own company, you will always have situations where you will have to resolve conflicts. These conflicts may take place between employees, managers or just about anyone who may be working under you. The true sign of leadership is when you are able to deal with these conflicts and resolve them like a boss. In this article, let us understand what a conflict is, what it does to you, and the different kinds of conflicts that can occur. In psychology, a conflict is said to occur when opposing choices are to be made, resulting in stress or some kind of dysfunction. These conflicts have been classified under approach-avoidance conflict, double approach conflict, and double avoidance conflict. What is an approach-avoidance conflict? In an approach-avoidance conflict, you are presented with a situation where you have two choices: one is a pleasant one and another is an unpleasant one. Usually, we tend to make the choice that brings a pleasant outcome. Yet, sometimes we may need to make unpleasant (avoidance) choices too, and this causes stress. [php snippet=1] An example would be a scenario like this: Jim was a manager who often found his team to be lacking discipline. They would talk amongst themselves and not finish work properly. He began to reprimand his team members to maintain discipline and engage in fruitful work. This did not work, and instead, animosity between him and his subordinates increased. He had the option of escalating the matter to his boss, or just choose to keep yelling at them. If he kept yelling at them, he would not have to face his boss and look like a person who cannot discipline his team. If he escalated the matter, he would continue to be viewed as that manager who complained about team members to the higher ups. The other option was to just keep yelling at the team members, who were anyway used to it, and it certainly seemed like the easier option. Jim could choose between complaining to the boss (avoidance) and just keep yelling at the team members (approach). He chose the unpleasant choice, and the boss warned the whole team that their bonuses may be withheld if they didn’t perform according to requirements. As you can see, in an approach-avoidance scenario, taking an unpleasant approach may actually be beneficial and resolve conflicts. Jim’s team members soon forgot that it was he who complained to the boss, and even if they remembered, they could not do anything about it anyway. Thus, when given a choice between a pleasant and an unpleasant option to resolve conflicts, do not be afraid to take an unpleasant step if that seems like a more effective way to handle things. What is a double approach conflict? The next kind of stressful situation arises when there is a double approach conflict. A double approach conflict provides you with two appealing options, and you find it difficult to choose between the two as both are attractive. Let us assume Jim needs to solve an argument between Betty and Lisa, both of whom have been at loggerheads with each other over finalizing a design for a client’s logo. In Jim’s opinion, both the logo designs look great and he finds it difficult to choose between the two. A double approach conflict usually leads to a favorable outcome but it can cause unpleasant feelings among those who are involved. In this case, either Lisa or Betty will feel bad about their design being rejected while the other’s being accepted. Remember this golden rule. You will never be able to make everyone happy. In this case, Jim might do what most sensible managers do to resolve conflicts. He may ask all of his team members and other employees in the office to vote for the logo they like the best, in an anonymous manner. The chosen logo can be presented to the client, while the one that wasn’t chosen can still be appreciated for its inherent good qualities. While the employee whose logo was not selected will still feel bad, she will at least feel she lost in a democratic process. What is a double avoidance conflict? Sometimes, you will encounter the most difficult of situations. This has got something to do with choosing between two unpleasant choices. This is called a double avoidance conflict. In a double avoidance conflict, you will encounter two different unpleasant outcomes and you will have to choose between the two. No matter what you do, conflict will arise and will cause you stress. This kind of conflict is the most stressful and most people find it difficult to solve them. In this case, all you need to do is to choose the option that is least detrimental. For this, you will need to make a list of pros and cons and weigh the advantages and the disadvantages of each choice. Choose the one that is least unpleasant. For example, Jim may find out that he has to either cut down funds to his team or make them stay back for a longer duration at work. It would not be possible to make employees stay back if it is stipulated so legally. Thus, he may have to release more funds to pay for overtime. Resolving conflicts requires you to know the different kinds of conflicts and which one causes the most stress. in most situations, it is not as simple as the situations given above. Usually things are a lot more complex, and people find it difficult to resolve conflicts. The importance of personal qualities in conflict resolution To solve all conflicts, certain personal characteristics are very important. First of all one needs to be patient. Without patience, you will not be able to understand two opposing views, and you may color your judgment with your emotions and biases. Secondly, you need to be objective. You need to look at opposing views objectively, and try to understand

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Nurture Your Organizational Ecosystem to Boost Workplace Productivity

September 22, 2016

A lot of people disagree with the proposition that corporations are people too. Of course, they are not people, because they are not sentient. However, corporations are run by people, for the interests of people, and they belong to people. An organization, functions quite similarly to a human being. Just like we have organs and they all work in tandem, even though they are parts of different systems. Our bodies work like organizations do For example, the digestive system and the reproductive system are different, but they share the same body and work for that body. Similarly, the marketing department and the accounts department are different, but they work for the same organization. All these different parts and sections of an organization make up for its ecosystem. In fact, an organizational ecosystem can be described as that which is influenced by the organization, and that which influences the organization. With this definition, we can understand that there are internal and external ecosystems. The internal ecosystem of an organization consists of its employees, departments, infrastructure, and everything that is owned or hired by the organization. External ecosystems include the larger community, clients, customers, competitors, the city where the office is located, and even the government and the world at large. When we talk about organizational ecosystems, we are talking about all that is connected to an organization, both internally and externally. It is important to nurture this ecosystem to boost workplace productivity. [php snippet=1] Why nurturing your organizational boosts workplace productive? Organizational ecosystem consists of all your employees, contractors, freelancers, the infrastructure you own, etc. Now, when you nurture these separate and disparate entities, you are ensuring their well being. Just like we need to nurture our internal organs with proper diet and exercise, we need to nurture our employees and staff, and replace parts and infrastructure when they are ailing. This boosts productivity by ensuring organizational health. When ecosystems are nurtured, their health is ensured. Health in organizational jargon refers to productivity. As long as a company is functioning properly, we can say that it is a healthy organization. This also means that all entities within the organization are productive. So, it should not come to us as a surprise that when we nurture organizational ecosystems, we boost productivity, both directly and indirectly. This should lead you to start treating your employees better, replace those old computers, contribute to the community where your business is located, and of course pay taxes as required. All these little things boost productivity whether we realize it or not. No matter what you do, it is important to remember that we do not live in a vacuum. We not only have to nurture ourselves, but also the immediate surroundings in which we live. Same is true with organizations too. To be productive and healthy, you need to nurture your organization and all its components, and also ensure that you support various entities that surround you externally. This helps in boosting not only productivity but also enhances work culture.

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Why You Must Train Your Employees in a Foreign Language

Why You Must Train Your Employees in a Foreign Language

September 21, 2016

As the world grows smaller with the advent of Internet, we have also seen our businesses spread out to countries with which we normally did not share many relationships. Most English speaking countries often conducted business amongst themselves until Germany and Japan became business leaders too, along with Britain and the USA. This led to people learning German and Japanese, while perfecting various dialects of English. While it is very important for your employees to speak and communicate in good English, it is also crucial for all of them to know at least one foreign language. No matter in which industry vertical you are, you need to make a list of a few foreign languages that can always prove handy. Some of those languages are French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese. These are international languages that are spoken in not just one country, but many. As we continue to do business with other countries, there will always be a situation when one of your employees who knows a foreign language will help you better in terms of signing business deals with another company in a different country. [php snippet=1] Now, let us take a look at why you must go ahead and invest in teaching your employees foreign languages. Helps build teams One of the biggest advantages of learning a foreign language is that it can be used as a team building exercise. An entire team may be encouraged to learn one foreign language while the other team can be trained in a different language. At the end of course, these teams can showcase what they have learned during team activities. All this helps to boost team loyalty and assists in team building. Boosts international business relationships We live in a very small world now and it has become important for us to look for clients in countries where they may not speak English. This is especially important when dealing with countries in the European Union or in the Far-east. When we speak the language they do, it helps to boost relationships with them and engage in conversations that could lead to signing a deal. In fact, the more foreign languages you know, the more people you will be able to connect with. Avoids ambiguity while signing contracts When you know a foreign language, you will be able to avoid ambiguities in the contract. When you read a contract in a foreign language, you will be in a more authoritative position that you might have been if you didn’t know that language and depended on a translator. Makes your company seem more international One of the most important benefits of employees knowing a foreign language is, when they go abroad on tasks, they will be able to speak the local language, which makes them seem very international. That boosts the image of your company and this is always a good thing. Reduces attrition It is a well known fact that employees who stand to gain something usually do not leave the company for a long time. This is more of a psychological benefit than anything else. If you teach your employees a foreign language, they are more inclined to stay back during the course. No foreign language can be learned perfectly (along with a full time job, at work), in less than 3 years. Considering how quickly people quit jobs, using foreign languages to keep people from leaving a job is not such a bad idea. Boosts morale of employees When employees feel they are doing something constructive, especially for their own personal growth, at a free cost, they tend to feel good about themselves. This boosts their morale and they perform better in other tasks. By ensuring that you teach your employees a foreign language, you might effectively be boosting their morale and encouraging them to perform at their best. Employees get better at other tasks It is a well known neuropsychological fact that learning a foreign language boosts brain activity that is reflected in unrelated tasks. A study revealed how children who learn foreign languages fare better in general mathematics, than those who do not. This is related to neuroplasticity,

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Today’s Top Tech News From Indus Net Technologies

September 14, 2016

New Tracking Sensors for Enriching Mobile VR uSens tracking sensors will enhance user interaction with virtual objects. The new sensors are inclined closely towards mobile VR.  Their advanced ability to messed up algorithm after Facebook laid-off its human editorial staff.  #social 3. Follow Wisely With Tailor-Made Instagram Stories Don’t worry if you find your Instagram friends boring. Instagram will now Behavioral Targeting will allow marketers to target users based on their activity within the app. Advertisers always felt a lack of targeting and measurement on Snapchat; better late than never. #social  5. Google Makes Tag Management Easier This new collaborative feature is aimed to resolve workflow challenges faced by team workers while

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Why Apple Invested in Chinese Taxi Company

September 14, 2016

Back in May, when Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing service, people were left wondering what that was all about. Was Apple trying to enter the Chinese market? Was it trying to launch a new app that helps people hail taxis? Was it about the media tool which helps people access entertainment in their cars? Or was it just that Apple was super intuitive? Looks like, Apple knew what was to come much earlier than most speculated. Didi, which is one of the prominent taxi hailing services in China, just purchased Uber’s Chinese business for $35 billion. While Uber retains 20% of the stake, it quickly becomes clear that Apple gained access to not only Didi Chuxing’s customer list, but also Uber’s Chinese consumers list. Effectively, this will help Apple to track consumer behavior in China and also enhance its products for the Asian giant. It is a different story though, that certain Apple services are not available in China yet. However, this move indicates that larger technology companies often gain access to markets and consumes by purchasing companies or investing in them. Apple did just that. [php snippet=1] How might this help Apple? Consumer lists help companies to brand themselves, design marketing campaigns and also choose different branding strategies. While China remains one of the largest markets for Apple products in the world, it is also the largest overall market in the world, by its sheer size. It is extremely important to have access to such a mammoth market, if one were to gain access t its creamy layer. This is just what Apple did and it was one of the wisest decisions made by this company. There are rumors about Apple launching self-driven cars, similar to Google but those may not be valid. What could be valid is that Apple is looking at the $1 billion investment as an investment for its digital marketing campaigns, which will come every time there is a new product launch. We only have to wait and watch to see how Apple will use its new found access to customer information in China. The possibilities are endless but to begin with, Apple will certainly benefit from the various market segments that these ride hailing companies cater to. Looking forward Like any good financial move, it was not clear why Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing. However, after a couple of months and a few more financial contracts signed, it is clear what Apple was aiming at: access to Chinese consumers’ information and data. Whether $1 was the right price to pay for this information is something that time will tell, but most likely, it was a wise move. In other words, it also helps us to know how much information is valued today. Consumer information is not only a hotly debated topic, but also something that is sold or bartered. When the time comes, one may need to keep certain things confidential. All the more reason to keep it safe and secure.

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How You Can Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture

How You Can Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture

September 9, 2016

People always want to know about company’s work culture before joining it.  It serves as a great means of attraction for hiring vibrant and quality talent. Many business leaders have realized that if internal work culture is not healthy, an organization cannot grow. A company’s culture is defined by various factors and practices incorporated by the company. It may include the hiring of right talent, service differentiation, sharing workforce’s compassion, employee skill development, using technology, creating effective means of communication within the organization, and engaging in corporate social responsibility and philanthropic initiatives. A strong leadership is another crucial factor that characterizes company’s work culture. Every company starts small; it is the work culture that navigates it through challenges to become a large and successful firm. Whether you are a startup, a small or a medium sized firm, it is fundamental for you to revolutionize work culture to make sure that you are synchronized with contemporary needs. Following are some important steps you need to take to revitalize your organizational work culture: Look for change An organization can’t be stagnant in its approach. There should be a constant push to make it better. An effective manager yearns for change to bring new energy to the organization. Now, what that change should be?  A manager must sort out what changes need to be integrated to boost work culture. Start with one change at a time. [php snippet=1] Go mobile Today’s young workforce relies on a smartphone for everything. Whether its HRMS or ERP, most cloud applications are accessible via mobile. Employees love to accomplish various business tasks through applications. Technology makes your employees productive and efficient. It is a great step to encourage the use of smartphone at the workplace; however, it is equally important to place checks to avoid misuse. Data security is a major concern when employees access critical organizational data on a smartphone. It should be well accounted for. Find out what makes employees happy A happy workforce can deliver better results than overstressed people. Try to figure out what keeps them happy. It could be flexible working hours, work from home or a monthly bash at the workplace. Do not encourage overtime because it is likely to create anxiety in the longer run. Make sure tasks are completed within stipulated time to promote healthy work culture. Inter-team communication Months pass by and some teams have little to no interaction with another team. Employees don’t get a chance to know members from other teams. Therefore, steps must be taken to promote inter-team communication. You can do so by shuffling team members; organizing get-togethers for discussion or games. Use gaming elements in non-game situations to boost productivity. You can also organize team building events to encourage team bonding in fun ways.  Employees feel more motivated and engaged at workplaces where people know each other well. Seek employees’ opinion There are certain employees who have excelled stupendously in the task that they do.  There are certain others who have a strong decision-making ability and their choices have always paid back. Identify such employees and take their opinion about relevant issues. It gives you a new line of thought. Consultation might help you to learn something new that you can apply across the organization. Learn, learn and learn You can’t sit back thinking that you know everything about how to run your organization effectively. This does not work. It makes your organization dormant in the long term. You have to strive to learn something new every day. Learn through books, magazines, events, symposiums, trade fairs etc to stay updated about new technology, methods, ideas etc. Moreover, learning is what differentiates leaders from followers. Prevent distractions during meetings It is common to see nowadays employees addicted to their smartphone. If employees are constantly bothered about new emails, phone calls, messages, and tasks-to-do, they fail to concentrate on the task at hand. Smartphone addiction creates anxiety among employees and they fail to participate fully in a meeting or discussion. It automatically makes them poor listeners. It creates a negative impression on other team members and they feel neglected. They also miss out on the gravity of important concerns. Create an environment that employees understand the importance of engaged participation and avoid unnecessary disruptions. Get your priorities right  Time management is a fundamental step towards promoting healthy work culture.  Employees are often bogged down by overwork. This happens due to their failure to prioritize work. Important tasks should be completed before other tasks. If there are multiple projects running with different deadlines, prioritize tasks in your calendar as per their importance. If you plan to implement a new application in your organization, set a time limit to avoid unnecessary delays. A good habit like this takes the time to develop, so you need to begin right away. Are you hiring correctly? Many organizations tend to select candidates purely on quantitative basis viz. education and employment history. The result is high attrition rate. When organizations hire, they need to look at many other factors like compassion, creativity, zeal, problem-solving skills, leadership abilities etc. This helps them to minimize the annual cost of hiring and create a quality workforce. Look for unhealthy practices at workplace An organization’s productivity could be marred by unhealthy practices at workplace. It may include punctuality issues, absenteeism, lethargy, banal conversations or probably workplace politics. Such practices deteriorate organizational work culture. It becomes an impediment to attracting new talent and rather becomes a reason for talented employees to quit the organization. Quickly act against such malpractices and revive your organization back to professionalism. Identify the higher purpose of your organization Busy work life often dissolves the higher purpose of your organization’s existence. If a leader fails to recognize that, you can’t expect employees to spot it. A true leader identifies and clarifies the higher purpose of the organization to employees. If employees know why they do what they do, your purpose is solved. Conclusion The work culture of an organization cannot be

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What Madonna Can Teach You about Technology Adoption

What Madonna Can Teach You about Technology Adoption

August 12, 2016

It might seem a little odd to see Madonna’s name printed on the website of a company that lives and breathes technology. Yet, she is more relevant here than anywhere else, if one would like to put it that way. To begin with, Madonna is not only an artist/musician par excellence, she is also a businesswoman with a knack and an entrepreneurial spirit that needs to be emulated. Her music and entertainment business employs thousands of people and sustains, even more, people who are not directly employed by her. We also know that she has a softer side to her, adopting children from disadvantaged countries and bringing them up as her own. However, what technology insiders should take a note of is her dedication to technology, and bringing technology to every aspect of her life. In fact, every company has something to learn from Madonna about technology adoption, if not her music. In this article, let us see how Madonna can teach you a thing or two about adopting new technologies. Early Adoption of Technology Right from the days of ‘Vogue’, a groundbreaking single released in the 1980s, Madonna has been at the forefront of adopting novel technologies. If you closely studied her videos, you will notice that what she experimented with decades ago still remain relevant. Like her, it makes sense to adopt the technology before others do. Right now, it makes sense to adopt cloud computing before your competitors catch up. [php snippet=1] Embracing Social Media Madonna has used social media to document all her achievements, even before other stars began to use social networking sites. Her social strategy has been to interact with her followers intimately, which is what you should be doing too if you want success on social media. This should be a lesson to all those companies that are still hesitating to plunge deeper into the social domain. Using Technology to Bring Novelty Her most stylish videos have been in black and white, which are now again replicated by younger pop stars. She also was at the forefront of bringing techno and trance to mainstream dance music, which again, is now part of the music. When Ray of Light was released in 1998, it was a groundbreaking album, mainly because of the way technology was adopted into the recording and music making process. Today, younger pop singers are still finding inspiration in that album of hers. If you want your company to succeed, use technology to create something new! Promotion of Technology Not only has Madonna succeeded at adopting and using technology, she has also been an activist of sorts, by promoting technology to varied audiences. Her live performances are a standing testament to this, with some of the most advanced lighting, sound and stage effects used by her. She actively encourages her audience to participate in her live performances, making them an interactive experience. Likewise, you should promote your own technology to your users by making things more interactive. Learning from Madonna Certainly, there is a lot to learn from Madonna and technology is not the only thing. She is one of the inspirational figures for those who want to be successful in their business. She teaches business people that one should never let go of one’s passion and must always be at the forefront of technology adoption. If you studied her life closely, you will know that Madonna is not just a pop icon, but a world leader who has managed to change the way we approach technology.

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