That Night...

There was nobody at home but me. It was night and they were yet to return. I was fighting off sleep and trying to keep myself awake.

The phone rang once and by the time I picked up the landline, the line went dead.

I glanced at the clock, for it was late. Just as I glanced up, the clock struck 12'. I glanced at the clock and then at the door.

"Why on earth were they so late? Why was the mobile not reachable?"

I glanced back at the book but the silence seemed to resound too loudly. Not liking the silence around me, I decided to put on the TV.

I switched it on ,only to find a blank screen. The silence seemed to mock at time. I began to remember the horror movies   I had seen. An unexplainable fear began to assail me.

I began chanting all prayers that I knew in my head and headed for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

I stepped into the  kitchen and grabbed the door of the fridge. I pulled hard but the door refused to open. It seemed as though someone was pulling it from inside.

Shaken, I quickly left the fridge and made my way back.

On the way, my glance fell on the mirror and my reflection in it. I looked different and something seemed to be changing . I could feel a figure looming behind me. It seemed to slowly creep forward.

I made a dash back into the kitchen. There was a puddle of water on the floor. I slipped, fell and hit my head on the floor.

Thud.

With my hand on my head and with a groan, I groggily opened my eyes.

It was a dream. I had fallen off the sofa. Shaken by the dream, I sat back on the sofa and tried to calm my racing heart.

The phone rang and I rushed to pick it up, hoping they were on the way. But by the time I reached there, the line went dead.

I returned and just as I glanced at the clock, and  the clock struck 12'....

De'javu or was it?

HR Musings - Boss Day

"Every year, this day, the world rallies around  to recognize those in supervisory positions.

This year let's join them, as we give our bosses a pat on the back, a candid feedback and a tribute for all those hard decisions made..."

This is the mail that we sent out on the 15th of October, this year at Kancor.

A year ago, when my Boss passingly mentioned about a Day called the Boss' Day, we were too caught up with other things to spend time and think about this concept.

This year, with a team to support me, and with the fact that we could squeeze in some time to think of doing something, we tried to out our thinking caps.

Every year, every month, every day, every second and every moment, we work on different things for each of our organizations. We do things to achieve our goals, to fulfill our passions and also to bring home to the table the money required. And amidst all this, we expect that the hard work we put in, the hours we pulled off, the effort and the results of those efforts be appreciated by our bosses.

So we thought…

Why not set aside a day, to return the same to the bosses…

Why not let them know they have done a good job…

Why not let them receive a candid feedback…

Why not give them a pat on their back...

That's when we decided to send this mail informing people about bosses day. This spark arising from one mail triggered many mails from individuals to their bosses…

Is that it?

Well, that's not all….

We had some custom made gifts like trophies, plaques and posters for each boss with either the names or the photographs of their team members. We had mini huddles arranged on another day, in which each team or cascade of managers from one team got together and had a mini time together. This meeting was one were the team got together, gave a small token to the manager and anonymous slips of paper which gave feedback to the manager on things that they liked in him/her and the change that the manager could perhaps consider.

These meetings and feedbacks were not limited to a location or a grade. These meetings transcended 5 locations and started at the MD level and ended at the executive level.

Jayamohan and his Team

Shaju and his Team

Though hectic, it was a good day. The best was the feeling of oneness with the team that put in so much effort to make this possible, despite the many obstacles that we faced.

Kudos to my team of Office - Deepa, Jeevan, Kurien, Jayesh, Joseph,  Saran and the rest of the team - You guys encourage me to plough ahead with these activities.

Let's keep spreading the smile and joy!!! :)

HR Musings - Monday Musings

One of the first initiatives of the Weavers team was to kick off the Monday Musings.

This team has been relentlessly working for more than 8 weeks now, and creates a sense of having something to look forward to every Monday. This can be a perk-me up or a thoughtful quote, a motivating or a awakening video or even an interesting article that the team wishes to share.

With different things being cooked up by the team and suggestions pouring in from employees, it has been a nice experience so far.

One activity, that jumps to my mind was the one where every employee, had to take a chit of paper from near the punching machine, as they walked in to office. Now this activity was after a long weekend where I am sure many had not yet gotten over their holiday moods.

Well, each slip of paper contained a quote and a question. The question was a though provoking one where the question in each slip required us to think of our fellow employees and consider who would fit the bill for the attribute mentioned in the quote/question.  We then had to hand over this slip to them.

I found myself getting a slip with a quote on Friendliness and a question that required me to handover the slip to the friendliest person at work. It was not a very easy decision to make and did require me to think deeply on this.

On the other hand, I received 3 slips from three different people and it made my day and surprised me as well.

We had around 80 different quotes and 7 different attributes  floating around.  So people were on the look-out for Friendliest People, Well Dressed People, Energetic People and so on.

This activity spanned 5 locations across Kancor and would not have been possible without the people who were determined to make it happen.

With the hope and the belief that this activity might have made a impact on at least one person or brought a smile to at least one person, I sign off…

Before I take bow, just wanted to use this also as a forum to raise my hats off to the team that makes this and other things possible every Monday.  Guys, you know yourselves, but even then, take a bow for the world to see -  Joseph, Elma, Leeba, Ramesh, Sooraj

You guys are a rock for sparing time every week for coming up with something new, for pushing on regardless of who is there or who is not. It's great to know and see the difference we make. Let's make many more Happy Monday's… :)

I should also probably give my Thanks to 'Anita' from SunTec , who introduced me to the phrase  - 'Happy Mondays'.

HR Musings - Celebrating Work Life

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep"

Sometimes my work at office reminds me of these words. There are so many things that can be done, there are so many ways we can make an impact. But with only two hands and limited time, not every idea conceived can be put in place and nor can you come up with good ideas after a point in time.

It was one of those days, where I came across the book "Celebrate" by ScottFriedman. Both Sebastian (Head HR Kancor Ingredients) and I read this book from cover to cover.

One of the sentences that struck me and remained in my mind was

“When people live in a Spirit of Celebration, they look for reasons to happy dance, even if only silently. It becomes a way of being, and (then) a habit”

The fact is that we spend so many of our waking hours either in office or in work related activities every day. So we thought, why not infuse and inject this Spirit of celebration all across. After all, as long as we are going to be at work it makes sense for each of us to have the best day ever and celebrate each moment.

With this thought in mind, we pulled in people from across teams and across functions to form a cross function team. This team (of which even I am a part) named itself the "Weavers" - to begin with we were going to weave in different activities to the thread of office life.

Two books that have really contributed to our thinking process here are "Celebrate" and "FISH".

                               

 

So now with Weavers in place, we are many and have many ideas and many hands that help implement these ideas. Though there are still miles to go, many miles have been crossed.

So signing off, as we Weavers weave the path forward...

HR Musings - Kancor Brazuca

The football fever was on and I could see everyone in a frenzy discussing one match over the other. The air of excitement was so palpable while these discussions were on.

I wanted to make use of this period for some game or activity which could be related to, by everybody. But I was out of ideas…

As this point of time, I received a mail from a employee who suggested that we go ahead with at least prediction game on who's going to win the matches and take the glory. With this suggestion in mind, the team set out to define a quiz program, that could span a period of 10 days and be a combination of both predictions as well as knowledge on the teams that qualified the Round of 16.

The air now seemed to thicken with excitement each afternoon as people  rushed to be the first to answer the questions. With predictions on one side, questions on another, the actual matches on the third side and the discussions on the fourth, each day seemed to revolve around FIFA.

(This turned out to be a chore for me since I was really unaware of the nitty-gritties of Football and FIFA and also an eye opener in terms of the knowledge that I could garner about the countries that qualified for the round of 16).

As we were coming to the close of this contest, another bright soul (Joseph) came up and suggested the idea of having a penalty shoot-out at one of our branches. Now with limited time on hand, Joseph, I and a few others conceptualized this. Luckily, and as generally happens, we got the approval and the funds to roll this out.

Joseph the Goal Keeper

So one day, we sent out a mail, moved a few vehicles and during lunch we had the first ever Kancor Brazuca Shoot-Outs.

With each floor being divided into a team, we had two teams competing with one another. It was a quick fun and exciting exercise that just charged us up and spread smiles across.

The Winning Floor

So with the FIFA coming to a close, we had the questions session done with and a penalty shoot-out as the icing on the cake. The only thing pending was distribution of the gifts to the winners of the quiz.

The Runners-up

Luckily for us and to add a cherry to the cake, we had out MD down on the day we wished to distribute the gifts. We closed the entire event with a quick round of Football Trivia quiz and ended with the distribution of prizes to the winners.

It was a fantabulous experience and truly a Kancor Brazuca moment.

It left me waiting for the next FIFA series, and not because I like Football (I am not fond of it), but to await the FIFA fun and excitement at Kancor...

Brazuca