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How to end corruption in India (Part 1)?

28 Mar

CorruptionWith Indian elections around the corner and lots of tweets going on about the corruption in India; I couldn’t stop but think, how can a new leader stop an age old tradition of bribing? Is it only the responsibility of the new leader to change the overall culture of India? What about the people of India? Do they not bare any accountability in prospering this corrupt government culture from ages? Obviously, people have the intrinsic responsibility to be the part of this cultural change, but the major changes can be implemented by the new leader in order to reduce corruption in India. Following is one of the ideas through which we can achieve this goal.

I still remember that day from 2003, when I had to go with my friend to check out the application process for the new passport application. During that time, there was no consistent information available for a simple task like a passport application. No one could predict what kind of documentation will be asked for at the application counter, or how long it will take to finish the entire process. During our first visit, we ended up inquiring about all of that information, and noted down all the necessary procedures to acquire the passport. Next day, we took all the desired documents, which we had noted down the other day, and started our journey again. But during our next visit, the same person told us that we need to notarize all of these documents, and get few other documents. Obviously, we were two naïve kids at that time, who hadn’t experienced life. On our third visit to the passport office, we had realized that this was more than just missing documents. What would have happened to that officer, if he would have just given us the list of required documents at once? Ah. We had then realized that this was the sign given to us by the government officer to give him some extra money under the table. Though we didn’t give any bribe, and visited the passport office at least 8-10 times before getting our passport; most of the people would have given some money, and would have got their work done in 1-2 visits.

When people give bribes to the government officers in India, they are looking for a convenient way to finish their work. Shouldn’t these kind of tasks be convenient to begin with?  Applying for a passport is not a complex task. I shouldn’t be giving some extra money to anyone for doing their regular job. Do you agree? If we were to have the consistent and transparent information available to us before making our trip to the passport office, we wouldn’t have to go through 8-10 different inconvenient trips to do a simple task. Unfortunately, that is how things work in India. For a country like that, where everyone is mostly busy and working 24×7, bribing an officer seems a convenient way to get your work done, instead of hunting for the right information to apply for your passport, ration card, etc.

One of the prevalent reasons behind the corruption in India is….restricted access to the information. When the same and consistent information is freely available to all the citizens of India, they can take their own decisions based on that information. Unfortunately, that is not the case in India. From applying for your birth certificate to applying for your death certificate, there is no centralized and consistent source of information where you can get all the information about all of these applications. Thus, you have to depend on the government officer’s best judgment on what kind of information you need, and how to apply, etc. There are many people in India, who would rather bribe the officer in order to get their work done, instead of visiting the office 4-5 times. Unfortunately, most of the government officers take advantage of this fact, and use the lack of transparent information to their advantage in order to get some extra cash under the table.

Thus, we need a centralized,  transparent and consistent source of information in the Indian government.  If we have that kind of a system in place, government officers are less likely to take benefits of our needs, and more likely to concentrate on their basic duties of helping people. And, maybe, then people of India can demand answers from the government officers based on the facts and consistent information, instead of basing their questions on their assumptions. Let’s make the system more transparent, so that we can hold our government accountable for their actions. If you had all the required documents for applying for your passport, then you should be able to get it within a certain time period. If you don’t get your passport application processed within the average processing time, then you should be able to question the officer and hold him accountable as per the transparent guidelines published by Indian government.

What do you think? Will transparency of information bring a new cultural shift in India? Will it be able to help us in reducing the amount of corruption in India?

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on March 28, 2014 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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5 signs of being a bad manager

13 Mar

Bad ManagerMany managers fail to recognize their mistakes. Sometimes its not their fault at all. They just don’t see the early signs of their management failure, and hence, they can’t fix the underneath issue. After all, you can only fix something, if you know what is wrong. Thus, in order to help these managers in identifying the initial signs of failure, I am writing this blog. Through this blog, you should be able to see some initial signs of your leadership failures.

Higher turnover rate: Every organization experiences some kind of turnover in its positions, especially in the market-based economies like the Untied States. However, at least 40% of the turnover in the market place is due to the bad manager. If you are seeing more than an average turnover in your team, then its your time to analyze your leadership skills and management style. When inordinate amounts of turnover exist in your group, it may be that you might be alienating valuable staff members.

Hard time to fill positions:  When you loose people from your team, hiring from within the organization should be your first and most cost- effective option. When you are finding it more difficult to fill these positions within the organization, it may be that you might have developed a reputation as someone for whom it is difficult to work for.  Though it is not always the case, you might want to analyze the reasons behind not being able to fill these positions. It might be telling you something about your hiring practice or your reputation in the organization.

Increase in employee’s disputes: If you are a bad manager, then you must be seeing lot of disputes between you and your team. If Human Resources staff members are called upon frequently to mediate specific human relations issues, then it might be the time for you to do some self-analysis about your management style. This is a clear sign that you are not able to control your team members, and hence, you will not only loose some respect in their eyes, but you will also be seen as an ineffective manager in front of your superiors.

Performance reviews are challenged: For a good manager, a performance review is nothing but an opportunity to document something that happened during the year. Neither the employee nor you should be surprised by seeing any comments written in the review. But that doesn’t happen all the time. Few managers always have an issue during the performance review period, where their performance reviews are challenged by their employees. If you are one of those managers, where your performance assessments are often challenged by your employees, then it’s a sign that you are a bad manager.

Company’s policies are neglected: One of the signs to identify that you are a bad manager or not, is to observe your team. If you are frequently neglected in the decision making process, and if your employees are frequently neglecting the company’s policies and procedures, then it’s the time for you to analyze your management style. If you are deemed difficult to work with, then often your team members and other employees will follow the path of least resistance, and completely ignore you in the decision making process. This should be the clear indication that your management style needs some updating.

I hope, through my blog post you can get few hints about your current management style. Please share your comments here, if you agree/disagree with my point of view.

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2014 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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Is my business idea practical? Will it work? – Find out your answers here.

26 Feb

BusinessExperimentIn my last blog, I discussed about how to kick-start your part-time business. Due to overwhelming response of my readers and their curious questions such as….”How would I know that my business will work?”, I thought of writing another blog. In this blog post, I will provide you with some ideas through which you can test your business model very easily and effortlessly.

You will find your prospective customers by getting out of your building, spreading the word, and through word of mouth. I would advise you to use the networking as your primary tool, instead of cold calling people. Try to explore your existing friend and family circle, and develop those new relationships. Try to contact and meet with your potential customers, experts, or people who can introduce you to potential customers or experts — through your family, friends and other contacts.

Start with your primary contacts. Talk with your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, church or professional association members, and others in your personal network. You will be surprised on how much people are willing to help. Tell them about your new business idea. Ask them if they know anyone who might have a professional interest in your business. Get as many names and contact particulars as you can. Prepare a list of experts and expected customers, and then start asking them questions.

The most important thing you want to ask them is…..whether or not your business model is workable. Some of the important questions that you might want to ask them are…..

  1. Will your customers be confident about your capabilities do the job? I mean, do you possess the key resources and/or partners needed to deliver the promised value? Do your proposed key activities support the value provided?
  2. Do any of your prospective customers care about the value you can provide to their business/lives? Are they willing to pay for the product/service that you are offering? Is your asking price too much for the service/product that you are providing?
  3. Will you be able to bear all of the costs needed to implement your business model? What kind of other hidden costs will you encounter in the future (according to their experience)?
  4. Through which channels do your customers want to be contacted and served? Are you possessing appropriate customer relationships attributes required to sustain in that market? 

During these meetings, make sure to avoid selling your products/services. Your meetings should focus on validating your personal business model assumptions from the customer’s perspective. Also, when you ask someone for help, they are more likely to be responsive as compared to the experience when you try to sell them something.

Please make sure to record each answer for your future reference. Try to analyze these data before you make any changes in your business model. Don’t go overboard with the analysis. Just try to come on a conclusion, which can tell you if your service/product is different than others, and if customers are willing to pay for it.

I hope, this blog has provided you with some pointers through which you can test your business ideas. Do you have any ideas through which one can easily test his/her business model? If so, please share it with my readers through the comments below.

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2014 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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How to kick-start your part-time business without going broke?

30 Jan

PartTimeBusinessHave you ever thought of starting your own business? If so, were you successful in doing so? If not, what is holding you back? Have you ever thought about it? Though I might not be an expert on the subject, I have some experience in starting my own part-time gig, which I would like to share here with you. In this blog post, I will provide you with some advice on how to kick-start your part-time business that you have always thought about, but you didn’t know where to start.

Calculate before you jump-in: Let’s say, you are making $4000/month from your current full time job, and you are saving around $400/month or so. Now, let’s assume that you want to open up a new part-time business of photography, and you are unsure about it being successful or not. In this situation, instead of jumping into the business directly, and getting loans from other people to start your business, you can just calculate the worst case scenario. Assuming that your equipment, advertisements and operational costs being $4000, you can save this much money in 10 months. Let’s say, if you can make this much amount of money in 10 months through your photography contracts, it might not be a bad business after all. Other thing that you want to calculate before entering into the business is….how much will be your operating costs vs. how much money you are expecting to make. Though it might not give you a perfect answer, it will give you a definitive starting point of your finances.

Test your business model: Once you are convinced that you really want to start your part-time business, and once you have done all of the calculations, now it’s the time to test your business model. In order to test your business idea, you might want to meet with your prospective customers to test the assumptions of your business. For example: If you want to open up a new photography business, it would be a good idea to take 1-2 contracts for free. This will not only build up your portfolio, and provide you with some good references, but it will also test your business model. If customer feedback suggests any changes to your current strategy, then go back and modify the appropriate building blocks of your business. And repeat this process with other prospective customers, until you have some amount of confidence in implementing the same business model for money.

Jump in: Once you have tested your business model, now it’s the time to jump in and make some real money. In order to do this, you should capitalize your older customer base to expand your business. Word of mouth definitely helps you to get some business (at least in my experience). Obviously, having some external help from some advertising contractors wouldn’t hurt either. Once your business is up and running, you should continuously assess your business’ profit potential every month. You might have couple of months with some losses, but make sure that you can afford these losses through your current full-time job’s savings. If you are continuously losing money in your business, which can’t be recuperated through your primary job, then it might be the time to get out. On the contrary, if you are making enough profit from your business for more than 6 months, and if you can sustain yourself from that profit, then maybe it’s the time to convert your part time gig into a full blown business.

I hope, these tricks will help you kick-start your own part-time business within few months. Do you guys have any other ideas regarding this subject? If so, please share your ideas through comments below. My readers would be delighted to hear your take on this.

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2014 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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Why shouldn’t you fire stability seeking employees from your company?

30 Oct

Introvert BossRecently, one of my friend asked me for a suggestion on how to fire her one of the experienced employee (let’s call him Bob). Since the question was really interesting, I wanted to get more information about this issue. After some discussion with her, I figured out that her issue was completely different than how to fire someone. Actually, she was unable to use Bob’s strength to strengthen her team, and hence, she was considering Bob’s output negligent. Bob was with the company for several years, and she felt that his growth was getting stagnant because he is always looking for stability, and wouldn’t grab the next opportunity of growth. Thus, in this blog post I am going to provide you with some insight on how to use employees like Bob to strengthen your team, instead of firing them.

Improve loyalty of your team: In today’s world, where the world is changing every day, we should still value loyalty as an employer. Every company needs a loyal workforce, who are committed to their mission, their customers, and their work. And this is what you will get with your stability seeking employees. They are always loyal with the company, which they work for, since they connect their job stability with the company’s continuous performance. If used correctly, these employees can become the story tellers of your company and its culture to your new employees. Thus, as a manager you can use these employees to mentor your newer workforce to be loyal, and hence, reducing your turnover rate. And why not? Using these employees, you can build the strength of your group by deepening their knowledge of the company, its goals, history, and performance. This approach can create a butterfly effect, and maybe, you can create an entire workforce of loyal employees.

Develop stronger strategic vision: Security seeking employees want the organization to succeed in whatever it does. By doing this, they are increasing their job security. As a manager, you should be seeing this approach as their strengths, and involve these employees in strategic decision making. Because these employees value the organization, they are likely to provide you with some inputs, which has the organization’s interests at its heart. Since these employees are seeking stability with the company, they are most likely to be far-sighted, and they will try to see beyond the short-sighted turf battles. Use this to your advantage, and consistently ask them “What is the best thing to do for the company in the long run?”.

Improve your team’s efficiency: Stability seeking employees are probably not likely to reinvent many wheels. If they have worked for the company for some amount of time, then they might know how the process works, and how to follow it. This approach can make them highly effective workers, since they spend less time in questioning the current system, and spend more time in performing the task. Obviously, not all the time you want a “Yes man” in your team; but for some of the repetitive tasks, you might want to use these employees to quickly finish these tasks. Just make sure that you don’t keep on giving the same tasks to the same employee, because no one knows how to do it. In this way, you will be not only increasing the dependency on one employee, but you will stop that employee from growing. If used correctly, stability seeking employees can reduce any distractions, and improve your team’s efficiency.

Do you have any other ideas through which you can use the strengths of your stability seeking employees?

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on October 30, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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How to effectively deal with your Perfectionist Boss?

16 Jul

PerfectionistsHave you ever worked under a Perfectionist Manager? By perfectionist, I mean to say … Type-A personality. I am sure, if you have ever worked for a perfectionist boss, then one thing is for sure…..you must have noticed that they hold everyone to the higher standards, and they never get satisfied, no matter how much hard work you put in. Though this perception of Type-A personality boss is true, there are some ways through which you can make them happy. And hence, like my last blog post, I am going to provide you with some pointers through which you can make it easier to work with your perfection obsessed boss.

Respect their decisions: Actually, Type-A personality bosses are often right when they say their ideas are better. They are usually experienced and very knowledgeable on the topic (that’s my general observation). But when people are not allowed to give feedback, to try things their way, or to make mistakes, they can’t develop their potential. Therefore, even though Type-A bosses are good trainers, they don’t allow their employees the freedom to develop to the point where they can take over for the boss. And hence, you should take their criticism well and expect to learn from them. Have an open mind, when you present your ideas to them. Expect multiple revisions to your proposals by your boss. In this way, you can benefit from your manager’s experience while doing things your way.

Uncover all the assumptions: Perfectionist managers don’t ask for feedback from others because they don’t feel they need it; they already know what’s best (according to their perception of themselves). They tend to express their opinions freely on how things should be done, and what others are doing wrong, even when their advice may not be wanted. Thus, you should always ask questions to see what information the boss has assumed that you already know, and then determine whether the boss already has a “correct” solution in mind. While finding more information, use these questions that will appeal to your boss’s self-confidence and provide you more information… “We need your help.” “You’ve had a lot of experience in this, what do you think?” Let them feel in control, but get all the information that you need.

Earn their respect: It is very difficult for a perfectionist manager to delegate responsibilities. They want employees to do the work in a way that they themselves would do that work. Thus, it is critical to earn their respect in order to get your work done right. To earn their respect for your work, you should always respect Type-A personality traits. Try to be at work on time each day (consistently). Finish your projects on time. If you can’t finish your work on time, then involve your manager in the decision making process from the time when you encounter a big issue. In this way, your manager can be informed about the complexities of the issues that you might be encountering, and maybe, lower his/her expectations. Another thing you might want to do is to make your work look neat, well supported, and accurate. Review each stage of an assigned project face to face with the boss, so that his/her confidence level in your work increases over time.

I hope, this blog helps you in dealing with your perfectionist boss. Have you ever worked for a Perfectionist Boss before? If so, how did you deal with that situation? What other ideas can you give to my readers?

I will be waiting for your interactive comments. Thanks. – Bhavin Gandhi.

 
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Posted by on July 16, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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How to effectively deal with your Introvert Boss?

26 Jun

Introvert BossHave you ever worked under an Introvert Manager? In my opinion, managers should always be people person with soft skills, but that is not always the real life scenario. You must have seen (or experienced) multiple situations, where an introvert person is in the management role because of his/her experience with the subject knowledge, connections with the management, or something else. No matter what is the exact reason behind this, you might come across these kind of situations more often than you might think. Thus, in this blog post, I am going to provide you with some pointers on how to deal with your introvert boss effectively and respectably.

Don’t increase their insecurities: Introvert managers spend too much of their time and energy in safety seeking to keep from looking like fools, being blamed for something, or even losing their jobs. Thus, you should try not to put them on the spot. Asking their opinion in meetings does not make it easier for them to participate; instead, it increases their anxiety. So, you should always try to ask them their opinion in one-on-one settings, where they feel more comfortable. Don’t ask vague questions during this one-on-one sessions. You should rather ask specific instructions about how, what, when, and where; so that you don’t have to bug him/her multiple times about the same information. If possible, do some homework before you ask these specific questions. Go through some scenarios, where you can address all policy impacts of his/her decisions in the same meeting. This will limit your visit to his/her office, and it will get you all the information that you might need.

Take decisions by yourself: Introvert managers always attempt to remain safe by avoiding to make decisions by themselves. Thus, I would recommend you to take new initiatives by yourselves. And if needed, take important decisions by yourself, after talking to other employees and stakeholders. During this process, you need to make sure that you keep your manager notified (or informed) about these initiatives, so that he/she doesn’t consider you as a threat to his/her power. It is comparatively easy for an introvert manager to provide his/her opinion on some decision, rather than taking that decision by themselves. It would also help, if you can show him/her your decision process, and how you came to a given decision from all the other alternatives. In this way, you can increase your manager’s comfort level by providing him with pros and cons of all the other alternatives.

Don’t expect any feedback: Introvert Managers feel more comfortable working with things than with people. For example, they might do well working at restocking items or finding glitches in a software program. They will enjoy inventory control, ordering supplies, and detailed work but be less successful in dealing with employees and employee problems. Thus, they seek/provide little feedback and disclose little information. In fact, introvert managers not only feel uncomfortable around people, but they actually fear them. So, don’t expect any praise, guidance, criticism, or help from your introvert boss. You might have to provide these for yourself or ask your colleagues to do so. Due to the sheer nature of your boss, you might want to set up a 360 degree survey for your job performance. In this way, you will be getting true and real feedback from all the people you work for, and may be, this can help you in getting that next promotion, which you might not get, if your performance is only judge by your introvert manager.

I hope, this blog helps you in dealing with your introvert boss. Have you (or do you) worked for an Introvert Boss before? If so, how did you deal with that situation? What other ideas can you give to my readers?

I will be waiting for your interactive comments. Thanks. – Bhavin Gandhi.

 
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Posted by on June 26, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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How to gauge your leadership perception through your team’s feedback?

08 Apr

FeedbackLeadership’s perception is the key in deciding how effective is your leadership. If your team has the wrong perception of your leadership style, and if they do not consider all of the external factors that shape your leadership style, then they might cause few negative consequences for the organization and yourself. Thus, it is very essential to look at your leadership style from your team member’s perspective. And hence, I will provide you with few methods through which you can measure your leadership perception in the eyes of your team.

360-degree review: In order to get an unbiased feedback from your team about your leadership style, you need to find appropriate methods for soliciting that feedback. And the best way to get that feedback is by initiating a 360-degree review of your leadership performance and ability. I would advise you to coordinate with your manager or Human Resource representative to ensure that the process is carried out professionally and in a manner suitable to your workplace. Be sure to solicit and include multiple peers from a variety of sources to get as many perspectives as possible. If you have a small HR department in your company, or if you don’t have enough resources to do a 360-review, then you might want to try creating a free survey on a website like SurveyMonkey with specific questions related to your leadership style.

One-on-one: Another method through which you can get an unbiased feedback from your team regarding your leadership style is through one-on-one meetings with your team members. I would advise you to coordinate a series of one-on-one candid discussions with the people you respect as leaders and your team. From the feedback of those leaders, who have a vested interest in developing you as a leader in your organization, you can get some advice or experience that may be valuable to help you grow as a leader. While the feedback from your team members will help you to understand what works and what doesn’t work in your existing leadership style, so that you can tweak your current style to become a better leader.

Customer feedback: Customers are the reason why we are here. And hence, it is very critical to obtain your customer’s feedback to get an outside perspective of how you lead your team. What does the customer feedback say about you as a leader? Are customers willing and eager to work with your team? Are the objectives clearly defined to achieve the desired end results? Does the customer see you as an advocate for your team and your organization? How do you perform in crisis management situations? If you don’t directly interact with the end consumer of your end product, then get the feedback from the team that you support.

Have you ever found the need to measure your leadership perception? If so, what other methods have you used to gauge your leadership perception in the eyes of your team?

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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Manager’s guide for a new manager: How to quickly learn the workings of your new team?

22 Mar

classic-booksOne of my friend headed the quality function at a medium-sized durable goods company. And once he got a job offer as a general manager in one of its largest plant, he jumped on the opportunity. After briefly examining the new plant, he declared it outdated and went on to rebuild it from ground up. But while doing this, he neglected the importance of understanding the current processes, and interpreted employee’s silence as agreement. No wonder, his idea was not accepted positively. And soon after the new plan was put in place, productivity plummeted and quality suffered.

In order for you to not repeat this mistake, you need to first try to learn the existing operations of the team, strengthen your relationships with the team members, and then try to make changes to the process. In this blog, I will provide you with few tips through which you can accelerate your learning process about the current processes/procedure of your team.

Ask your people: The simplest method to learn the workings of your new team is to ask your people. You would be surprised by knowing how much of the knowledge your new team has to share. Don’t be afraid of looking foolish, while asking very basic questions to your team. I would recommend you to ask these questions during your one-on-one session with your employees. In this way, you will still get the information that you need, without getting embarrassed in front of many people (if you ask any foolish questions).

Train yourself: Another method to quickly familiarize yourself with the existing processes of your new team is to treat yourself like a new employee. I would recommend you to have few days allocated solely to train yourself. During these days, you should work with your team as if you were a new employee joining the team, and tell them to run the show. By doing this, you will not only learn the existing processes of your team but you will also earn the trust of your team by showing them you care about them. Worst come worst, you will be in the position to define the training guide for the new employee joining your team.

Learn from documents: If I were you, I would invest some good amount of time going through all the documentation of the team before I ask someone. In this way, you can learn about the workings of your team without looking foolish in front of someone. This will also give you an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the document standards of your new team, so that you can follow these standards while changing the documentation, if you choose to change the existing process.

I hope, this blog helps you to accelerate your learning process while understanding the workings of your newly acquired team. If you were in the similar situation like my friend, what would you have done?

Thanks. – Bhavin Gandhi.

 
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Posted by on March 22, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management

 

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Why should you NOT let your employees work from home?

28 Feb

Work from home

Marissa Mayer might be under scrutiny by many of her employees due to her recent decision of ending ‘work from home’ culture in Yahoo, Inc. Though I am not aware of those extreme circumstances under which she needed to take this drastic step, I can say this for sure….’work for home’ culture is not for every organization. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for workplace mobility, when required. But some of the organizations are just not made to support ‘work from home’ culture. Thus, in this blog I will  provide you few reasons for NOT having ‘work from home’ policy in your organization.

Depends on your business needs: Not every organization can afford to have the popular culture of telecommuting. Sometimes the business need, itself, won’t allow you to implement this culture in your company. Let’s say, you own an Apple Store. Are you going to be able to make your “Genius” employees work from home? Though these technicians can resolve people’s technical issues over the network, it is a strategic disadvantage for them to do so. Apple Store is widely known for its best customer support. And hence, the business need requires their employees to have some face time with their customers and develop that strong customer relationship to promote their brand.

It’s not for every company: Some people just can’t communicate well over the messenger, email or phone. There can be various reasons for this situation including lack of training, stagnant workforce, availability of appropriate tools, etc. Nonetheless, if your current workforce and your current company culture can’t support the initiative of working from home, then it might not be for your company. If some of your employees are not self-starters, and if they need someone to hold them accountable, and can’t be motivated themselves at home, then they need to work in the office. OR If you have some of those employees in your team for whom ‘work from home’ is the other name for a ‘vacation’, then this is definitely not for your company.

You lose the human touch: While communicating over a phone or a video conference provides your team the flexibility to join the meeting from anywhere, it comes with the dual edge sword. With the virtual nature of the communication for a ‘work from home’ team, it becomes challenging to schedule a meeting, since your team member have to wait for other people to come back to their IM client so that they can communicate. Also, written communication over e-mail or the verbal communication over the phone can create many inter-personal conflicts due to misunderstanding, which taking long time to resolve them. With written communication being so inefficient and passive, it might not be a good idea to go with the ‘work from home’ culture, if your employees are not ready for it yet.

Can create security concerns: I know, we have the latest technology today with the VPN connection and the secured channel communication. But as the technology advances and becomes complex, it becomes very difficult to address these security concerns remotely. No matter how strong is your office network, if your employees are working from home, your company can be exposed to various security loopholes. If you don’t have adequate IT support to address these security concerns for the people who work at home, then you might want to wait before implementing a ‘work from home’ policy in your company. Internet security is not the only problem. When your employees work from home they are exposed to various other security issues like their laptop getting stolen, having their password getting hacked due to lose WiFi network key, etc. Obviously, these issues will be less frequent if all of your employees work in the office, instead of their less secured home environment.

So, what do you think about my argument? Do you know any other situations in which you should not allow your employees to work from home?

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

 
2 Comments

Posted by on February 28, 2013 in 21st Century, Leadership, Management, Virtual Team

 

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