The workforce needs to be aligned to the company requirements and certain suggestions have been provided by a business consulting publication to achieve the same. Transparency must be built into the system. Every team or must have its own set of accountability. Processes must be simple to follow and execute. The corporate strategy must be communicated and spread across the board for all to grasp. Performance reviews must be a constant part and not annual. Data analytics must be used to identify employees’ relative strengths and weaknesses. Certain aspects of the work must be outsourced to external contractors. Technology must be ingrained into the work system though the same must not be followed blindly. Most importantly, team members must work as a unit as social collaboration is bound to give best of results.

Most people when they appear for interviews, do not manage to sense the workplace as they are often too stressed in trying to put on their best show and please the interviewers. However, this is not an ideal attitude, as hours of business analysis on Glass-door will not prepare one for the work as much as the day in the office for the interviews. One must look out for signs of the prevalent work culture among the existing employees. Is the interviewer too formal? Is there respect for the candidate’s time? Is the process well organized and are the company requirements made clear? These kind of clues need to be gauged from the day’s experiences. 

The core competence of any business or group refers to activities which one is really good at. Business research suggests that success at work requires focus. Any working day can be divided into list of tasks most crucial, less so and least. Also a day may be divided into time consuming tasks, less so and least. However the two panes may not align simply because a time consuming task does not necessarily imply importance. Behaviour towards work similarly needs to follow as per the way work is to be driven.

According to business research carried out by Gallup, only 13% of the world’s workforce feels truly engaged at work. With the global economy altering and organizations facing newer challenges, it is imperative that firms get the best of talent. Also talent management and retention becomes crucial. For this, employees need to be selected from diverse profiles and set meaningful challenges. The incentive mechanism must be devised appropriately. Management consulting giant PwC has claimed that the most innovative firms will rise by more than 60% over the next few years and that is where engaged employees can most help.  

Without possessing the long lines of hierarchy, startups can mentor larger firms about number of processes andbusiness innovation. Due to the close knit unit which startups are bound to possess, decision making is a quick process and changes can be implemented quickly. Rachel Pautler, the founder of Suncayr, speaks about the growing trend in Canada for startups to flourish. Flexible hours and social activities are encouraged in order to boost talent recruitment. Malorie Brodie of Bridgit also stresses on the importance of remote working as a crucial cog. Denzil D’Sa of PPLCONNECT, Mikael Chow of Crew and Jeff Booth of BuildDirect are other small business founders who are thriving in the present environment. 

Global e-learning leader Comm-Lab introduced a unique corporate training module for its employees this year aided through presentations and webinars. The trend of operational teams working in silos needed to be eased out and thus compulsory weekly knowledge sharing sessions were initiated. This led to improved synergy across functional teams and development of a more rounded, holistic learning among the employees. There was even an MCQ based testing at the end of the sessions and on average employees secured above 60% scores.

Business leaders often model themselves on the deeds of historical rulers, many of whom were utterly ruthless in their times. Some of these leaders in time gone by have conducted deeds which are still applied by management consulting practitioners albeit in less gory fashion. Going way back in time there was Qin Shu Huang who united all of China. Then there was Caligula who ruled over the Roman Empire. The same empire met its demise at the hands of Attila the Hun. The ancient times’ list is completed by Wu Zetian. The Middle Ages starts with possibly the most ruthless of the lot- Genghis Khan. Tomas de Torqumada and Czar Ivan IV often known as ‘the Terrible’ come next on the list. The next three characters are famous for providing fearsome nicknames- Timur as Tamerlane, Queen Mary as Bloody Mary and Vlad III, known as Dracula. Countess Elizabeth, Maximilien Robespierre and Mehmet Talat Pasa next find mentions. Kind Leopold II of Belgium was known for his ruthless policies and actions in Africa. The modern times get started by the likes of Vladimir Lenin, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Khorloigiin Choibalsan and Francisco Franco. Of course no such list will be complete without Adolf Hitler. Closer to our times, villains mentioned include Mao Zedong, Pol Pt, Idi Amin and Augusto Pinochet.