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Category: strategy

Custom Work Hours

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What if employee(s) chose the hours they want to work for in a week instead of a regular Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm as long as the total came to be close to 40 hours per week?

Would employees’ productivity increase or decrease because of the work time flexibility, employees choosing their shift based on their schedule and time(s) they feel or are most productive, and the employers prioritizing results over quantity of hours logged by employees?

Is Custom Work Hours the next iteration of the current work model (from an industrial era system of 9 to 5 and hybrid office/remote work model)?

Why do companies still have a 9 to 5 Monday through Friday work model? Is this work schedule really serving the needs of the company, clients, or its employees?

Getting to that Next Level

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What’s the Next Level?

There are Levels. Realizing that there’s another level to be better is a key component in getting to that level. If you strongly believe that there’s no more level beyond where you currently are, then either you’ve achieved a lot already (Happy for you!) or you are limited in your circumstances, environment, or in your mindset. If you are doing what you can and still not getting the results that you want, then looking for outside help can benefit you. Getting to the Next Level is where the Coaching comes in!

BetterUp has written a helpful article in Benefits of coaching: Purpose, clarity, and passion in daily life

Attitude and Skill

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Attitude and Skill were found to be the two key differences between great competitors and good ones in swimming in a study done by Daniel F. Chambliss and shared through his paper “The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers.”

Daniel reviewed the habits, backgrounds, and performance of competitive swimmers and discovered that attitude and skill were the main differentiators between the great swimmers and good swimmers. The great swimmers swim differently (strokes, turns etc) than the good swimmers. The great swimmers have practiced and honed their skill(s) and technique(s) over a period of time. Also the great swimmers came with a different attitude to their swimming training compared to the good swimmers.

How are you approaching your craft everyday and where’s your current skill level at that craft?

Meet to Succeed

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Technology, devices, globalization and many other factors have enabled us to work from any part of the world. Being on a virtual meeting with people across multiple locations, time zones, and cultures is more common than ever before. Yet there is something very special about being able to meet your virtual colleagues or team in person (regularly)!

Meeting team members in person enables us to see our individual personalities, have spontaneous conversations, get to know each other, and helps build empathy. It’s harder to build empathy and understanding when you have only interacted virtually with the other person or team. As much as remote work has enabled and empowered those who work remotely, it can have long lasting severe impact to company culture, team bonding, productivity and ultimately the success of the team and the company. To succeed as a company, you need to have an excellent team that challenges and understands each other, can work collaboratively, and keep the bigger picture in mind over their personal goals.

Do you have the option to work remotely at your current company? If so, how often do you meet with your team, leadership, or customers? What are the benefits and challenges you’ve experienced working remotely?

Customer experience ownership

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

On a recent weekend, we were shopping at a local Marshalls store and picked up few items to purchase. One of the items was on sale and another similar item was not on sale. When we were checking out the products from the store, the cashier suggested that the other similar item might be on sale too. She checked with her manager and confirmed that the item was on sale too and provided us the sale price.

We walked away from Marshalls that afternoon feeling that the cashier took ownership of the customer experience and looked out for the shopper. We had not requested the cashier to see if the item was on sale and she was proactive to give the customer a better store experience. She cared enough to provide the customer with the actual sale price of the item. If she didn’t care enough, she could have just scanned the product and charged us what was listed on the item’s price tag. With that, the store could have received a little bit more money from us and we would still be fine with it.

The ownership and care shown by the employee has now given us another reason to continue to shop at Marshalls. When customers have an abundance of shopping options (online or other retailers), employee ownership and care for the customer experience goes a long way. Delighting customers is just an empathy away!

Creative is a choice

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

In The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, Seth Godin describes that creativity is an Action, Not a feeling.

Taking action on the ideas we have (writing a blog, composing a piece, contributing something new to a conversation or in a meeting etc) is very important. We should not wait for the “right moments” when we feel like doing creative work, we should continue to focus on the action and keep shipping the work. Seth adds that “waiting for a feeling is a luxury we don’t have time for.”

What are you shipping today?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Riqd9RMuNUg%3Fsi%3Di4W0yZ7DKOpto3Mg

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 has the authority?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Anjani runs a growing small business with 5 employees and recently one of her employees received a better job offer from a competitor. Authority question : Is it Anjani, the employee who received the offer, the other 4 employees, or the competitor?

Arjoo decides to run for local elections. Authority question : Is it Arjoo, her voters, the media, her election team, or the election regulators?

Arun’s company is funded by investors and he has quarterly growth targets to meet. Authority question : Is it Arun, the investors, the company’s employees, or the company’s customers?

Atul runs a successful restaurant. Authority question : Is it Atul, his chefs, his staff, customers, food authorities, or restaurant association?

Amita has a strong social media following. Authority question : Is it Amita, her social media followers, the social media platform, investors of the social media platform, the regulators, or her internet provider?

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

First class experiences

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Our minds are powerful and create our everyday “reality.”

We have the physical world where every living being is part of. Then there’s the subjective “reality” that’s unique to each one of us.

We create consciously, subconsciously and unconsciously and live in our own “reality.”

To be able to experience a better life or “reality” for ourselves, we have to learn to condition our minds.

If you want to experience flying first class, you have to make the decision to pay more to be there. Once you’ve experienced how flying first class feels like, our mind wants to get back to first class and will motivate you to find ways to fly first class more often.

Similar to flying first class, try experiencing better products, services and experiences and you’ll continue to find ways to attract them and live in your “best reality.”

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

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