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Category: brand

What’s your company culture like?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

To get a quick gauge of your current company culture, you can do a few activities.

Have a look at what is being promoted and encouraged within the company.

What pictures, videos or posts are team members posting on internal company channels? Are those pictures of team events, community activities, nature, industry reports or something else? What is the engagement level on those posts?

See what activities team members spend most of their time on besides their day to day work responsibilities.

Are team members actively participating in company events, social events or any event in general? Do the same individuals tend to attend these social events compared to other team members? Are there regular planned company culture activities?

Management’s time and effort in company culture related activities

Does senior leadership understand the benefits of company culture and activities around it? Do they show up or be present in the cultural activities of the company? How is the leadership team treating or behaving towards the volunteers who organize the company culture activities?

Room for Creativity

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso

In one of her “The Artist’s Way” series book, Julia Cameron says that creativity is born in generosity, and flourishes where there is a sense of safety and acceptance. If we feel safe and accepted in a certain environment or group setting, we will generally be comfortable to be ourselves and open up more. If we feel threatened, judged, or unaccepted in a certain environment, we can become defensive and closed.

Julia adds that every creative endeavor thrives in an environment of safety and one of the quickest ways to create this environment is to provide structure. What is ideal is a structured mixture of scheduled and unscheduled time. Scheduled time will help individuals stay focused and get tasks done while unscheduled time will provide them room for spontaneity and inspiration.

let my people go surfing

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

One of the books that had been on my books bucket list for a while “let my people go surfing” by Yvon Chouinard (Founder and Owner of Patagonia, Inc.) was inspiring and moving.

I had been fascinated with Patagonia’s authentic storytelling and wanted to learn more about the company, culture, and its philosophies. “Let my people go surfing” was initially meant to be a philosophical manual for Patagonia employees and later became a must read book for entrepreneurs, activists, environmentalists and anyone who wants to make our planet better than what it is currently.

I was moved by Yvon’s story of building and running Patagonia, the philosophies that guide Patagonia and its other entities, a company’s role in community activism, our collective responsibilities to our planet, and being a conscious buyer and seller. There are so many gems in this book and I encourage you to read it if you have not already done so. I will be sure to reread this book from time to time!

Book cover image from Penguin Random House.

Institutional knowledge : A case study

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Nepal is a beautiful country with its unique opportunities and challenges.

Alicia and Ajay both attend a top management college in Kathmandu, center of colleges and universities in Nepal. Once they finish their undergraduate studies, they plan to pursue their graduate studies outside of Nepal (Europe, Australia, North America). After graduating top of their class, Alicia starts working at a technology company and Ajay starts working at a bank. After working a few years, they decide to pursue their graduate studies and apply to universities around the world. Alicia feels comfortable at her workplace and shares her graduate study plans with her supervisors and employer. Ajay is hesitant sharing his graduate study plans and wants to finalize his graduate admission first and then share the news with his employer.

Many employers across all industries are aware of this “going abroad” trend among the young professionals in Nepal. Some employers have systems in place to manage the transition better than others. With Alicia, her employer starts planning a transition, starts gathering institutional knowledge and puts out a vacancy internally and externally to fill her role. With Ajay, his employer will find out at the last minute his graduate study plans and will have to scramble to find a replacement, rush to collect his knowledge/expertise gained from having worked several years at the company, and might struggle to fill his position on time.

Given this circumstance, who should take more responsibility? Should employees better communicate their graduate and undergraduate plans with their employers? How should employers better prepare for migration trends of their employees and how should they handle when employees do share their going abroad plans (be it for studies, work etc.)? What can the company, industry, or the government do to understand these migration (studies, work etc) trends and better prepare as well as leverage the diaspora’s collective expertise and experiences to help the companies, industries and the country?

Supporting the creatives…

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There are many ways to support creatives who create and publish their works. There are various forms of art from photography, videography, painting, singing, dancing, drawing, graffiti and many more. Creatives need visibility, appreciation, and respect from their audience which can encourage and help them to continue creating. While what is considered “art” is subjective, we can appreciate the work of the creatives who represent a crucial part of our society.

Creatives use their imagination, tools, skills, time and efforts to create and publish their work in various platforms. A few might have resources to amplify their work but many can surely use our support in whatever form possible!

To sincerely support creatives’ work, we can…

  • Like, Comment or Share on social media
  • Write a message to them to show appreciation
  • Acknowledge their work verbally when meeting in person
  • Write a blog on their story or work
  • Invite them on a podcast or recommend them as guests to a podcast show
  • Donate to their platform
  • Give them a platform to share their work
  • Give them due credit if their work is shared on a medium
  • Buy their work
  • And so much more…

Ideation-Action-Reflection

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

3 steps to achieving your authentic greatness!

We often get stuck. Get stuck in coming up with an idea, wait for the “perfect” launch strategy, or some internal narrative we tend to hold on to that delays starting out.

Ideas, by themselves are good. However, they also need to be put into action. Ideas need to be shared or acted upon to see if it can move the conversation, connection, or community forward.

When the idea is put into action, we can observe what difference it makes in the conversation, connection, or community. The idea can have a major, minor or no impact in how we have initially thought of in our planning. Reflection is critical to continuously get better and will help in achieving the end result.

Then we repeat : Ideation-Action-Reflection.

the art of excellent customer service

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Erica and Tony both aspired a career in hospitality after college. They wanted to be working for a multinational hospitality group that operated hotels all over the world. Both start an internship at a national hotel chain. When the internship comes to an end, Tony decides to go back to college to finish his final year while Erica decides to pursue another internship opportunity this time with a multinational hotel chain. She wants to gain more work experiences in the industry and wait at least a year before returning to college to finish her studies.

Few years later, Tony and Erica end up working for the same multinational hotel group. (Erica does finish college through distance learning in the evenings and working during the day.) While Tony has built his knowledge and expertise in the hospitality industry through classes, workshops and industry visits, Erica has built her knowledge and expertise through years of day to day interactions with customers and guests. If Tony is process-oriented, Erica is people-oriented. Customers and guests give Tony and Erica positive reviews for their work. Tony receives general feedback highlighting his commitment to following the hotel group’s core values, prompt service request turnarounds, and helpfulness. However, Erica receives more emotion oriented feedback commending her active listening skills, empathetic nature, positive and engaging attitude, thoughtfulness, and authenticity.

Work shifts in a tech led world

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Technological advancements has changed how we work, the way we work and when we work.

Although the 9 to 5 work schedule has been around for a long time, maybe it’s time we reflect back on why a 9 to 5 schedule began in the first place and then customize it to the world we live in today.

Robert Whaples, a professor at Wake Forest University created a detailed timeline on the evolution of hours worked in the United States for the Economic History Association. In the comprehensive write up, it’s mentioned that in the 1800s, many Americans worked seventy hours or more per week and over the years, various factors led to our current work schedule of 9 to 5.

Since technology and devices allow anyone to work from anywhere now, what can a work schedule look like? The work schedule can be highly customized to the nature of a certain business. For a service based company, they can take care of customers around the clock and create a win-win situation for both the clients and the company. The company can allows employees to work at times where they are most productive (some prefer working in the mornings, some in the afternoon and others at evenings/night time).

These few scenarios can be addressed with work anywhere and anytime model.

Why wait till Monday morning to address a customer’s problem who faced a issue last Friday evening?

If an employee feels more productive in the evenings/night where she or he can focus better without interrupted meetings and office chatter, why not facilitate that environment? Wouldn’t both the company and the employee win here?

Since the “work from home” is a more accepted model of working these days, why not let teams meet at times where they feel is necessary and not constrain them to a 9 to 5 timeline?

The thing about ideas is..

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We all have ideas. Some are good than others. All are welcome and each perspective is unique.

Coming up with ideas (creative ideas, business ideas, problem solving ideas and others) is a form of an exercise. It’s a muscle. The more we exercise the muscle, the better we become.

How often are we exercising our “idea muscles”?

Exponential growth of Nepal’s tech industry

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

How can we help grow Nepal’s tech industry? To measure the growth of the tech industry, what are some benchmarks? Good to have some benchmarks to start out with:

Few quantifiable benchmarks can be:

Number of companies in the tech industry

Number of jobs created by the tech companies

Number of high skilled professionals in the tech industry

Number of diverse employees in the tech companies

Collective amount of taxes paid to the government by the tech industry

Few non quantifiable benchmarks can be:

Is it easier for someone starting out today to make it in Nepal’s tech industry?

Do individuals and teams have access to the tools, resources, mentorship, trainings to become successful in Nepal’s tech industry?

How can different tech companies intentionally help each other grow and navigate the dynamic tech landscape?

Are government policies and regulations helping the tech industry grow?

Who’s got the ball?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Nowadays there are more company meetings than necessary.

Zoom meetings, Client meetings, internal sync ups, and weekly catchups fill up our calendars every week. Months go on with many meetings that serve no purpose or get results.

Meetings are not going away soon. However, effective meetings are highly valuable for everyone in attendance.

To make company meetings effective, have an agenda, start and end on time, and have clear next steps.

Shellye Archambeau, chief executive of MetricStream likes to end her meetings by asking, “Who’s got the ball?” When you’re in sports, and the ball is thrown to you, then you’ve got the ball, and you’re now in control of what happens next. You own it. It becomes a very visible concept for making sure that there’s actually ownership to make sure things get done.” – NYT’s article

What does Progress look like?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We want Progress. Like yesterday.

It’s tempting to be thinking of achieving massive success as soon as possible.

So what does Progress actually look like (realistically)?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear says if you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or breaking a bad habit, it is often because you have not yet crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential. When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it overnight success. We tend to see the most dramatic event rather than all the work and efforts that came before that “overnight success.”

Source: James Clear

Empowering Curiosity

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Building a company culture of curiosity in an organization takes small intentional steps.

If a team member asks a question in a group, how is that question handled?

Does the meeting organizer have an agenda and allocated time for questions?

What is the team leader’s first response to a team member’s question? Is it a straightforward answer or a thoughtful follow up question?

Does the team member feel safe and comfortable asking the question in that environment?

Who has been given the default “authority” to ask questions in that environment?

Is the meeting host intentionally seeking out questions from the participants rather than just expecting them?

Do you have a Company Alumni Network?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Companies go through all sorts of changes in their journey.

One of the biggest and costly changes is personnel change.

When experienced employees leave the company for better opportunities, it can take some time to fill the vacancy or get someone ready internally to take that position.

The most untapped and available opportunity that companies have not considered or used is keeping in touch with the employee(s) who is about to leave or have left the company in good terms.

How about creating your Company’s Alumni Network?

The Company’s Alumni Network would consist of anyone who has left the company on good terms and wants to stay in touch with the company and its developments. Most employees have good and healthy professional relationships while working at a company and want to see their team and company succeed even if they decide to pursue other opportunities.

Similar to a college’s alumni network, the company’s alumni network will keep the previous employees engaged and updated on the company’s progress. The company can create a newsletter that is regularly circulated with the alumni network.

Imagine the short and long term benefits of a Company Alumni Network : building goodwill with previous employees, generate possible referrals for employees and new businesses, possibly bring back experienced employees who want to rejoin and much more!

Perfect Life vs Authentic Life

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

The Perfect Life is an illusion.

The illusion is fed with constant media coverages, social media feeds, popular culture, society and so on (mostly external factors).

That’s the shiny stuff that attracts our attention and feeds our ego, motivation, and hunger for more.

The Authentic Life is more real.

It’s real because you are living it daily and have more control (mostly internal factors).

Each day we can become more of who we truly are, our unique selves, and own our strengths as well as our faults.

From Entrepreneur to Empowerer

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

How can entrepreneurs grow their startup?

The qualities that help entrepreneurs start their businesses might not be the same that will help take the startup to the next level.

There will still be challenges that entrepreneurs will face when they have hired all the “right people” for the different roles of the company. If the entrepreneurs continue to become heavily involved in decision making of the different functions even when they have put “right people” in those positions, the company will be limiting itself. The entrepreneurs’ efforts might actually be counterproductive then.

For entrepreneurs to grow their company, most times they themselves become bottlenecks to the growth. It’s time to switch from being an entrepreneur to becoming an empowerer (one who empowers others to do their best). If entrepreneurs have empowered other leaders in the best way possible, the company will experience growth in many ways.

Greatness through Giving

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We can achieve greatness by focusing our energy on helping and supporting others.

When we focus on helping others through what we can give, we put good energy into the universe.

To achieve our goals, we collaborate with people because greatness is not a sole journey or destination.

The more energy you commit into inspiring and helping others, the more you will receive in return.

How are you inspiring and helping others today?

1,000 business cards

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We were new to entrepreneurship.

My friend was starting to sell custom made jewelry.

He reached out to me to help him with business development work.

One of the first purchases we made was to put an order of 1000 business cards, each.

Well we ended up using probably 50 a piece in the next few months.

Sometimes we can get caught up doing all the fancy activities that seem important at first but not doing much to increase sales or build a business!

Coffee Convoz’s Himalayan Java Campaign

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Coffee Convoz is currently running a campaign that offers a chance for anyone based in the US to win a Himalayan Java Coffee Cup.

Himalayan Java is a pioneering coffee chain that has been serving Nepali coffee since 1999.

Coffee Convoz is a global community of Coffee and Conversations!

3 A’s to greatness

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Awareness. Action. Automatic.

Awareness is the first component of becoming great at a skill or craft.

Once awareness is established, action is needed to intentionally practice and work on the skill or craft.

After taking consistent action to get better, the skill or craft becomes automatic.

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