No HR Gyan

A good friend of mine, Jaya, who used to head the HR function at an MNC IT networking firm and is currently working on a freelance basis has started a blog called No HR Gyan (which I think is a comment on the egroup I run called HRGyan )

She's been writing some great stuff, like this post on the issues that working women face called No Women No Cry (a tribute to Marley I suppose!)

I think the mind set in most organizations to enable a women to work with flexibility to support her family needs is a tough one. I have read so many articles on this subject, but honestly it is a personal struggle each day.

I think what we need to appreciate is that women in general DO carry the guilt of missing out a large part of their children growing up. Often missing out on the first word the child spoke, the first fight in the park, the first run..... and so much more.

Since many of the women also have a strong achievement orientation, its hard to just give up a career you have build so painstakingly and sit at home.

With this inherent contradiction i live each day and each night.

I am also not sure of options that exist for HR professionals to work virtually. I did see a lot of my colleagues in my earlier company especially in US & Europe being able do my kind of work from home.. always wondered when the Indian industry would be able to enable that.

And then there's this post on Developing Employees .

When employees know they have a fair chance to prove themselves, they do everything possible to live up to that expectation. 

After all no one likes to 'feel' they are no good.

These vibes comes through.

If you observe any team meeting (as an outsider) - just by the way employee are being spoken to - can easily get you guessing on where they stand in the performance distribution graph.

You can experience 60 minutes of well scripted performance feedback discussion with no authenticity vs a 5 minute heart felt - honest review of where the employee really stands and what they can do to stir up things

You can guess which one would work

Managers need to focus on constantly discovering the employee's strengths and passion...

To leverage them to re create the magic.

A good question to ask an employee is - which is one past achievement you are proud off - what made it happen ! ! How do we re create that performance in this team ?

So I suggest you add her blog's feed to your aggregator/Google Reader. You won't regret it :-)