Making A Successful Career - The Old School Way

My day starts with a flurry of calls, emails, texts, instant msgs & what not from clients lamenting the current situation at their companies, sky high employee attrition, non productive dead wood in the company, gossiping secretaries, stressful (and nonproductive) meetings that go on forever, and what not that basically sends the top brass flying for the necks of their immediate reportees. To which I nod along thinking what part of hell are these guys sitting in & why?!

I know a lot of people say that the Bosses were always better, the employees crisp & hardworking, ethical & stable, loyal & productive in the good ol times of the 70's & 80's & much before. These days, business expansion plans are so unrealistic at times that it takes the very last drop of blood & sweat out of the teams which have to deliver on those promises & burn outs are as common as puddles on a rainy day.

I speak to roughly around 50 to 500 people in a normal work week if there's not too much work & I have some time on my hands to listen to their woes & give my sympathies along with a few quick fix ideas that generally work well for them. About a 70 percentile of these people sound like they'd rather be doing SOMETHING ELSE. Anything else! But the job they're at. And I wonder why...when on completing 7 years in recruitment I never felt like I was in the wrong line or that I needed a 'Sabbatical'. Which is when I started taking an active interest in what was really ticking these people off! Themselves! On top of the cake that was stretched work timings, competition, not being able to count on fellow team mates for deadlines, irksome bosses, rising inflation & bad salary hikes, etc etc etc.

So..what are some qualities, attitudes & approaches to our work lives that we no longer share with our previous generation which is probably causing us to burn out faster & that too without being in a job that is satisfying?

Lets see some of them shall we? :)

1> Longer Stability in Jobs: Our predecessors in some of the most envied & satisfying careers before us were there because they chose to stick for longer periods of time with each of their employers. They perfected their learning curves with each individual employer before they moved on. A lot of people today are staying in jobs for less than 1/3rd of the time as compared to their earlier generations. Before the business is learnt & perfected & the resource becomes profitable to the company & to him/herself, he/she quits for the promise of a better package, or lesser travelling time, or sometimes just for no reason at all except they think monotony has set in with their existing jobs. I always consult with the hiring companies to make better work conditions & more transparent reporting structures to make the employee to want to stay back longer with the company & to candidates looking to job hop too soon to stay back, perfect their jobs, stabilize with their companies for at least 4-5 years per company atleast & then see the growth that comes, that is unparalleled by an MBA Degree or random jumps to higher paying companies. In the long run, stability always pays.

2> Better people relations: There was a time when relations were kept regardless of how the other person could be of use to you & those were the relations that actually worked. Today they have degenerated to rare or occasional polite pleasantries & texts/emails on special occasions which don't get me wrong, seems the best that can be done considering the work pressure everybody is under..these days. But our earlier generations have been super rapport builders, and relationships built on mutual trust, confidence & respect are always wholesome & the right place to build foundations of any kind, personal or professional.

3> Better work life balance: Maybe they had more time because the internet wasn't so rampant! But a healthy mix of activities, visiting friends or clients, sports, spending time with their families, going on company picnics, etc whatever was needed to be done to make life fuller was done. One of my fav parables about two woodcutters (http://bengtwendel.com/sharpen-your-axe/) says that taking time out helps raise productivity. Do read. :)

4> Higher Resilience, Tolerance & Adaptability: I'm sure by now this earlier generation of professionals must be feeling very good about themselves. Well you deserve to be. :) Here comes some more. One very common aspect that I have come across in professionals today who jump jobs more often than they should is a host of reasons like 'My Manager is a Prick', 'Management is promoting people who don't deserve to be promoted while Ive been with the company for 3 years & haven't got one yet' or 'My company has shifted 5 kms away from where it was & I can't travel that much' or even really trivial reasons like 'I dont like the food in my office canteen' :) Hence proved. Higher levels of adaptability & resilience helps in making successful careers because problems have always been around & they will continue to be so, its about navigating a path around them & still staying the course. If you change a job that could've been so good for you because of a manager who is painful to work with, aren't you letting him/her dictate the course of your career by leaving a good job? Yeah, think of it that way.

5> Keeping their word: One things our generation does today is play jump rope with promises. If you said you'll do it needs to mean its done. Professional success is also a by product of keeping your promises. A big example is Ratan Tata keeping his promise of introducing a car for Rs 1 lakh, well he kept his promise not considering any problems his company would face! His customers are happy.

.....Part 2 to be continued.

Keep tuned in.

Regards,

HR Interface Corporate Services