Aviation Life

Soft Skills

Is HR the nerve centre for retaining employees?

Aishwarya Mudaliyar

In today's work culture, people tend to spend more time at work than at home. This tends to raise their expectations from the organisation - the quality of the work life that they are being provided with.

In such challenging times, it is important that the employee has a rewarding and successful career. The environment that is provided needs to be high on sensitivity. Being pleasant to your colleagues, superiors and subordinates lays the foundation for a long-term career. Sensitivity is a lubricant for a productive relationship. This relationship will in turn allow you to build on increasing the organisation's productivity.

Today, with good competitive products and services, it is the people skills and the soft skills that will help one achieve results. You may hold every qualification that corporate world demands, but it is of no consequence if you do not have the temperament to match. Today, it is not just a degree or a high IQ that matters, but sensitivity towards others that take you up the corporate ladder. In other words you need to have a high SQ (Sensitivity Quotient). Constructive and cordial business communication carries equal weightage as finance. You can be taught the world's best theories and how to be good at your job, but until you communicate your ideas effectively and constructively, your ideas will die a premature death. You need to be able to translate your ideas well enough to be actioned by your team.

An island or a continent?

You need to be a people's person. George Shinn had said, 'There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals with the help of others.' This means that you need to work as a team with the team to become successful.

Just as we have different types of customers that make or break your business, we have a dynamic set of individuals who work for your business. If these dynamic individuals are cared for and looked after, imagine to what heights they can take your organisation's productivity.

Forget the age-old culture of treating employees like you are operating a labour camp. Do not inflict certain rules and regulations on your team because you were put through that routine at the beginning of your career. You cannot be a tyrant and still expect people to work for you. You cannot treat your team shabbily and expect the HR to retain them by hiking their salaries or having improved staff welfare.

You need to be able to look after your team like they want to be treated. Remember that people do not necessarily work for money only; they work for the relationships that they enjoy within the organisation. We feel people leave jobs for better paying ones, but none of us are looking within us to prod and find out why we ourselves are working in a particular organisation. Introspec and you will find that somewhere hidden inside you is the aspect of being respected for who you are, the relationships with your colleagues, subordinates, seniors that you cherish, the work culture. These are some of the most important reasons for where you are and who you are. The quality of our relationships is a major factor in life's success. This holds true whether the personal definition of success is financial, career, or personal happiness. Our interpersonal skills have a direct impact on our interpersonal relationships. Improving these skills is critical for personal development.

It is you who can retain staff and not the human resources department. You are the one who can make a small difference in the lives of your fellow team members. Love them and they will let you rule them.

The writer is assistant manager (Training) at The Park, Bangalore