La Vie est Bien

As part of a brilliant initiative to stay connected and share knowledge using OneNote initiated by a team member, another colleague of mine raised a challenge and asked me to write an article on the above said topic!  The one person, I must quote is undeniably Dave Olson Ulrich - the Management Educator & Guru who's had a HUGE influence on all things HR for me and millions of us HR professionals!  In his 2005 best-seller ' The HR Value Proposition ' co-authored with Wayne Brockbank  and through his various works & lecture series (including a controversial stand in 2016 where he challenged if organizations really required HR professionals!!), Dave has been questioning HR Leaders and practitioners on #HowWeAddValueAsHR.  The infamous Dave Ulrich HR model  goaded us HR professionals to alternate our focus on  Strategic and Operational topics while striking the right balance between Processes & People. In turn, we realized we add value only when we alternate p

So as we head into 'Week Infinito of the Lockdown'  (or so it seems!), I hope we women have learnt the numerous skills we clearly did not have an inkling for and/or  realize we needed , in the past 2 - 3 - 4  decades of our lives   ..  I mean what has #Covid19 taught us if we have not been able to tick a bucket list such as this one on a daily basis to be a #WonderWoman.. Do 20 burpees right after waking up as the kettle boils and you ready yourself for B artan, J haadoo,  P ochaa! Cook 60-minute crockpot meals that put the Michelin 7-star chef to shame! Keep a neat germ-free home (includes a spotless kitchen sink and nice smelling bathrooms) even though your children think it's an endless vacation with minimal caveats and leave food & belongings all over!  Bake those insta-worthy pastries and cup cakes! Continue excelling at work while competing and running neck-to-neck with the girl-next-door / man-next-door who claims s/he's never been more effectiv

So let me admit "choicelessness" is actually NOT a word approved by Oxford, Cambridge, Thesaurus & co! There's noiselessness  and voicelessness that comes up as close choices! And yet I stick to a grammatically incorrect word ... Because That's exactly what the world seems to be okay with, no? Incorrect actions of covering up a public health situation for months on end by one of the world's super power,  Incorrect actions of a supposedly apolitical organization (that the entire world looks up to), disseminating this propaganda,  downplaying the extent of the disease and possibly even delaying ordering a global health emergency situation, and Incorrect actions on the part of governments across the world - Incorrect Decisions , rather the Indecisiveness that has led to a disruption for billions of people's way of life, caused millions of people unemployment and tens of thousands of families death of and / or separation from their loved ones! Covid

So clearly finding yourself among the never-finishing-the-never-ending-to-do-lists-working-mommy makes you question your skills and efficiency every waking moment of the day! Thanks to #SocialDistancing i.e. #ForcedHomeArrest, you stare at your laptop or glare at the floor (or the sink!) - And there's ONLY one constant - There's some MORE to do! So what has the 3-4+ weeks in Quarantine done to many of us workin' mommies: 1. Auto-installation of Bai2.0 skills - The moment you open your eyes in the morning, the software (re) loads itself and helps us make strategic decisions such as - Bhaandi (dishes) 1st or Jhaadoo (sweeping) 1st! Mopping too or laundry only, today!? And with these WMD - Weapons of Mass Grime & Dust Destruction, you've never felt more powerful! P.S. Let's remember to uninstall the software post April 15 i.e. whenever Big Boss decides to allow the 'Real Bai' into our homes :D 2. Auto-upgrade of Yelling 3.0 is paired with Bai2.0 -

So clearly the 100-to-dos-a-day-abiding off-springs find themselves as 'Confused as a Gazelle', thanks to #SocialDistancing i.e. #ForcedHomeArrest! For they can SEE THE Garden but CANNOT PLAY in it; It's #SummerTime AND their friends and them are all 'home', yet aren't allowed to get together on play-dates! So what has the 2-3+ weeks in Quarantine taught some of us parents: There's a reason Indian Mythology put Teacher (Guru) before God (Daivam) - How and we mean HHHOWWWW do these (super) women manage 25-40-50-70 of the species which share characteristics similar to those of our off-springs all at the same time! With just 2-in-tow, in 24*7*16, the increase in voice decibels and the number of such episodes per day seem threatening and injurious to the health of the people at home and those of our neighbors too! And not to forget the endless reams of school work that remain untouched.. "Oh Amma, we have the rest of the summer break to finish th

So clearly, the restless, kinda-lost, forever-on-the-move souls like me, absolutely find ourselves like a fish out of water, thanks to #SocialDistancing i.e. #ForcedHomeArrest!  Even our favorite phrase on the phone, “Hey I got to run, Catch you later” seems out of place, for there's nowhere to run! And now that I have (mostly) achieved maniac level scores on the 1 st of my OCDs i.e. deep cleaning the corners of the home, I have now decided to do what I reckon is the next best thing I do - Write it out! So what has the one week in quarantine (and 11 days of no household help) taught some of us: You Cope & Adapt – You cope, no matter what life throws at you, like a rock star! 7 straight days of not even having stepped out on errands, for a person that spends 10+ hours a day outside home and you are still not talking to inanimate objects (as yet)! And who would have ever guessed you'll be OK with, and actually make plans to keep yourself occupied for another

It's 2020 and we still seem to be needing organizational initiatives to make ~50% of the human race feel "included"! Wonder why... Walk into any organization and it's a stunner if the business leader, the budding high-potential mid-management exec, the well-established technologist and the unsuspecting HR lead are not at logger heads for their share of the pie called D&I (whooops I&D is a cooler way to address it, no?) Setting insane targets for Attracting & Retaining Women (esp at senior roles), Person With Disabilities and people with differing sexual orientation (to exhibit organizational support to the LGBTQ community) seems to be the mantra.. And yet year after year, the actual vs. target numbers fail us and the reasons remain similar - "Oh she was not as good as she was in her previous role - She lost the plot (and the Gravitas too perhaps!?) ever since the promotion!"... "Oh, his issues were beyond the disability he mentioned