Thursday, August 31, 2006

Work, Life ... Balance!

At one point of time I had given thought to the idea of work-life balance and how much all the companies and HR talk about it.

It sounded absurd to me. How can the company provide or help provide a work-life balance to a person because it is ONLY THAT EXACT PERSON who knows the EXACT POINT at that particular point in time where things balance!

Just like a scale on a pivot where -
- different weights against an object balance at different points on the scale
and,
- different things at the same place need different weights to balance

so also people.

Where does my balance in life lie depends on my capabilities, my aspirations, my ambitions, my life position, my support system and a million other things.

Thankfully its not hard to achieve even though its sounds hard.

Now coming to the point of why I believe HR has no role to play in it.
Why because I get rewarded accordingly to the amount of effort that I put and the extent of output that I produce for my work. The more I work, the more I get rewarded. The more I give of myself to my work, the less I have of myself for everything else. I need to myself figure out what works for me. How does HR (or anybody else for that matter) decide which is the right amount of myself give where?

Last but not the least, the more give of myself to work, the less I have of myself for everything less but not necessarily less of life. If work is important to me, and work is my life, the more I put myself into my work, the more I have of life and that is perfect balance too!

A bolt from the blue!

Sometimes simple concepts strike you with a violent force of realization and leave you stunned. It so happened today that I was interacting with a friend of mine and we discussed how men like planning things, being in control and having an action/activity packed holidays where women in general would prefer a lazy, unplanned, go-with-the-flow kind of time. There are exceptions ofcourse but .. well, maybe I should replace 'men' and 'women' with a neutral some people to save getting distracted into men vs women theories.

Well the core of the issue is that it made me think of how I am an extreme 'P' type person rather than a 'J' type person and that is when it sudden bound on me that :
The MBTI types are just as valid for companies as they are for people!

Lets me first expand the MBTI Type dichotomies for a quick refresh (copied from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

The preferences

Dichotomies
Extroversion - Introversion
Sensing - iNtuition
Thinking - Feeling
Judging - Perceiving


The terms Introvert and Extrovert are referred to as attitudes and show how a person orients and receives their energy. In the extroverted attitude the energy flow is outward, and the preferred focus is on other people and things, whereas in the introverted attitude the energy flow is inward, and the preferred focus is on one's own thoughts and ideas.

Sensing and Intuition are the perceiving functions. They indicate how a person prefers to receive data. These are the nonrational functions, as a person does not necessarily have control over receiving data, but only how to process it once they have it. Sensing prefers to receive data primarily from the five senses, and intuition prefers to receive data from the subconscious, or seeing relationships via insights.

Thinking and Feeling are the judging functions. They both strive to make rational judgments and decisions using the data received from their perceiving functions, above. Thinking uses logical "true or false, if-then" connections. Feeling uses "more or less, better-worse" evaluations. When Thinking or Feeling is extroverted, judgments tend to rely on external sources and the generally accepted rules and procedures. When introverted, Thinking and Feeling judgments tend to be subjective, relying on internally generated ideas for logical organization and evaluation.

Judging and Perceiving reveals the specific attitudes of the functions. In J-types, the preferred judging function (T or F) is extroverted (displayed in the outer world). J-types tend to prefer a step-by-step (left brain: parts to whole) approach to life, relying on external rules and procedures, and preferring quick closure. The preferred perceiving function (S or N) is introverted. On the other hand, in P-types the preferred perceiving function is extroverted, and the preferred judging function is introverted. This can result in a "bouncing around" approach to life (right brain: whole to parts), relying on subjective judgments, and a desire to leave all options open. (The terminology may be misleading for some—the term "Judging" does not imply "judgmental," and "Perceiving" does not imply "perceptive.)

So what's so cool about extending the personality types to companies? Nothing, except that I hadn't thought about it before and the simplicity and the aptness of the concept left me dazed. It might be the most normal of 'theories' but with my limited experience in thinking hadn't taken me to this place just yet and when I did reach here, unplanned, I was amazed at the simplicity and beauty of the whole thing. Just like we apply all these 'psychological' theories in finding out compatibility issues, working styles etc for people, why not companies and people, or companies and companies. They would be so useful in finding constraints of a newly hired employee or sorting out the rough edges during merger of two differently cultured companies. Wow! The potential is mind boggling!

Will continue this theory in my next post..

Monday, August 28, 2006

Kinds of blogs

I have been taking a peek at (quite a) few blogs and like most other things in life, It am trying to compartmentalize and label them with the objective of trying to figure out where I stand.

The labels so far :

- The techy's talk
The blogs which explain some of the finer details of a some particularly obtuse and cool technology making it in the process, cooler but hopefully much less obtuse.

- Autobiographies in the making
Broadcast about the noteworthy (and at times totally forget-worthy) happenings in the life of writer.

- New Channels
Regular updates in all that is happening (or not happening) in the environment. A personal news reporting and commentary channel.

- Writer's Blog (often block)
Rusty and wannabe writer needing and getting practice at the cost of willing audience. Oftimes amidst the thorns springs a lively rose.

- Raving Rants
Space and avenue for all the vent up and pent up frustations in the life of the writer - a web punching bag. The web gladly provides willing ears for chronic cribbers and thankfully saving the real live people.

- Food for thought
Musings that provoke thinking, catalyze ideas, provoke passions and crystallize thoughts. Oftentimes the thoughts are stale, the idea stink and passions inspid.

- Sticky notes for random ideas
Place to capture some passing brain dumps and seemingly cools ideas to be analyzed and often trashed in future

Where do I fall? Mostly the last I should guess though once in a while it spills over to a few others.

Neutral view point!

Its silly how sometimes a small thought or statement can take control of your mind. Its so happened that a two days back someone talked about someone having a 'neutral view point' - and ever since, I have this deamon (- maybe I should call it a demon)process running at the back of my mind, not taking too much of processing but now and then, it interferes with my other thoughts.

So here it goes,

Is there anything like a 'neutral point of view'. I understand there can be two potentially extreme views on a subject and something mid-way between these can warrant being call the neutral view point. But then, as soon as you hold a view, just any view, on an extreme or midway, there is bound to be an antithesis - an exact opposite of that view - which immediately means the view is not neutral anymore. Neutral, midway, extreme, they are just relative to where you are, what is neutral to you might not be so for someone else, and what is seemingly an extreme, is actually a baseline for another.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

All about Authority!

A question of command and authority

Often I have reflected about authority, respect, influence and the way we mould events in and around our lives. There is a very thin faded line to distinguish between them; often one is mistaken for the other. Its hard to say what we influence, what we command and the way others look up (or down) on us.

This how the online free dictionary defines "authority"

1.
a. The power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge.
b. One that is invested with this power, especially a government or body of government officials.
2. Power assigned to another; authorization:
3. A public agency or corporation with administrative powers in a specified field:
4.
a. An accepted source of expert information or advice:
b. A quotation or citation from such a source:
5. Justification; grounds:
6. A conclusive statement or decision that may be taken as a guide or precedent.
7. Power to influence or persuade resulting from knowledge or experience:
8. Confidence derived from experience or practice; firm self-assurance:


All this eventually boils down to POWER. The power to make decisions, the power to change events, the power to enforce, the power to control, the power to influence, the power...

What exactly is power? It manifest itself in many ways -

Physical Force
It takes form of brute power of a beast to the more subtle control of the beauty to the torture of a bully and everything in between.

The Weight of Titles, Name, Place, Position, Possession
What you are, Who you are, What you do, all the responsibility that we take on our way brings alongside its companion authority and command.

The Power of Knowledge
An expert has a strong influence, and needless to say, also the last word!
Its raw power to know more than others, to know what you are not suppoknowinge knowning.

Spiritual/Mental Control
It could be the control someone has to either imprison or release us from us, our thoughts or what are thoughts make us to be.

Emotional Leverage
The power some people have in the way they treat us and make us feel, from the lowest dumps of being unwanted and trashed to making us the epicenter of their universe.

Moral Authority
This is the hardest to explain and probably the subtlest and strongest of all controls and influences. Some people influence you for what they are, for what they embody. They hold control because you want to emulate them, you want to please them and end us being willing puppets in their hands.

Each is independent in a sense - neither a pre-requisite to another, none a logical consequence of anything else. And yet, it doesnÂ’t take too much of thinking to see that these demarcated factors frequently overlap, influence, in-fight and stay in a constant state of chaotic coexistence.

What kind of power we need to succeed in various rolesthat we play,

- We all need some measure of 'physical' control to survive
- As a team member we are valued for our 'knowhow'
- As family member we need to emotional currency
- Society requires of us a certain name and position and ofcourse contribution to the spiritual well being of all
- To be good leaders we need a mix of all - but most critically the 'Moral Authority"
Not the self acquired variety, but one that is thrust upon us and it is in us to shoulder
-

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

What do I blog?

Why do I blog? This is a question that has been lurking on the outskirts of my mind for a while now. Why, why, why it tries to enter and each time I push it back. Well today being a lazy long holiday I decided to finally decide to let the question gather a foothold and come on in. It still wasn't invited but I did not push it out like a poor beggar - come to disturb my peace.

I made a deal - I will put forth all possible reasons and not try too hard to figure out which of these were valid for me.

So here it goes :

- Vanity, to show off that I can think and write - not well all the time but sometimes :-)
- Recommendation, someone strongly recommended that I should take up writing, not professional writing but write seriously, what better place than to start with a blog
- Expression, there are times when I have an idea and I am bursting to share it with others, and yet, doing it overtly sounds weird; this is more subtle, people can read when they want to without any pressure on my end. And yet, there are <5 people who know of the existence of my page!
- Vent, this is possibly a vent for all the strong feelings that overcome me at times
- Musings, thinking makes make write, and to write I need to think and sort out my thoughts, which often helps bring clarity to them
- Sharing, haven't done it enough yet, but it would probably help me connect with others out there
- It's cool, not really sure its still true!
- Everyone is doing it, that was never a motivation for me, not sure if it is now
- Understanding, as with most people, few people understand me, this is probably a way to help people take a peek inside the chaos that is my mind

Saturday, August 12, 2006

All too mixed up!

There are so many feelings in life, at times it is hard to understand why one feels attracted to someone.

Attraction could be driven by many factors,
- instincts, - mind, - body, - harmones, - conditioning, - physical deprivation or excesses, and even things like plan habit!

The most basic is driven by lust, the physical form of attraction. The next level takes the form of a performance wherein you get attracted to a person for their personality, their presence, their energy, the aura which envelopes them and you can scarcely keep your eyes off the show. Often there is attraction towards a person because you want to study them, they make a fancy subject, an interesting specimen that is both rare and fascinating. Next is the attraction for the voyeur in us, we live our lives vicariously thru them and it attracts us to religiously follow the journey of our reflected self. Attraction could be there for the 'stars' who represent our dreams, the perfect lives, the perfect beings, life as we would like it to be. Then ofcourse, the plain ol' friendship is attractive too, we share, our lives, our selves and that makes our lives and the people attractive. How can I forget the attraction for the direct opposite of all that we are not. Not having something makes us yearn for it and as a result so many more attractive. Attraction could also be as a result of pity and empathy. It could be because someone helps us understand who we are, helps us grow and lead a more complete life. Just as opposites attract, so also identicals, just because this means there are no differences, no jarring issues.

Beyond all these attractions is an instinctive connection. The spiritual connect. Why? Because the life motive, the drive is the same, the soul resonate together and this harmony of the souls brings them together like no other connection ever can.