Workplace Dynamics with Kamal Karanth

How do you feel when some of your colleagues or ex-colleagues leave you with the feeling of them being ungrateful? Or when they appear more entitled than you think they should be?

This episode is a reflection on how and why we oversell ourselves in the job interviews and what are the costs and consequences to be prepared for.

Were there moments in your career that you felt there were no well-wishers left in the organization for you?

The dilemma of whether to tell our colleagues 'as is' or to give the cliched version? But our colleagues know we are being economical with the truth! #CorporateLies

You know your boss isn't tenable to you, your peers, and maybe to the organisation. You escalate, but still nothing changes.

How we fail the leaders we hire/promote? Some confessions!

What if you say in a job interview that the reason to leave the previous company is a "relationship breakdown with your ex-boss/team"?

Why isn't the women CXO needle moving beyond CHROs? How about CFOs?

Having a retention conversation after someone resigns... is it a waste of time? What's the enterprise philosophy of retention, if there's one. The best opportunity for a Supervisor is to do the right things for their people when they are working with them, not after they resign.

Large enterprises announcing layoffs often add-in severance packages to soften the situation at both sides of the table. This episode discusses if there's a severance package that's generous enough to reduce the sting of the sense of rejection that layoff comes with.

What motivates you the most at work? Is it Money? Affiliation? Achievement or Power? If it's Affiliation and Connection... what are you more connected to...? The Enterprise or Brand? Your Manager? Your team or peer group? Or your role?

What's your definition of Freedom at the workplace? Choice of work time, space, location, colleagues, bosses, tasks... and beyond.

Are company dinners with bosses and colleagues the time to connect with them or enjoy the meal? Are there official DOs and DONTs for informal lunch or dinner meetings with super bosses and colleagues? Should HRs also set out guidelines for the same?

If you know your colleague's salary and use it, is it a breach of confidentiality terms signed with your employer? What do you do if you get to know your colleague's salary or increment percentage or bonus amount? How can we get caught up with others' pay information?

A top reason for candidates dropping out of a recruitment funnel is the time taken for the hiring process. Is it the system or the process of meeting multiple candidates or unusually high number of rounds or something? Irrespective of the technicalities, isnt it the Hiring Manager who is to be blamed for inordinate delays causing candidates to dropout? Can Hiring Managers step forward and own up t...

If you send an acknowledgment note to an interviewer, after your interaction... would that look like desperation or seen as someone who takes the initiative or being participative? Has the lack of participation in enterprise initiatives become a common occurence? If yes, why so? Why dont we participate in events, ritual and processes of the enterprise? Why and when do we give things a cold shoulde...

What do you do if your peer or counterpart is out of line? Do you let it pass or confront them? What's the forum of expressions of our views or opinions against our peers? Take it up with the boss or share with peers or in a public forum or a one-to-one setup? Is one-to-one the most potent or challenging setting? With no authority over peers does this become complicated?

Have you complained to your super bosses, about your immediate boss? What are the consequences of taking on the bosses? Did you have the resilience to handle the consequences of taking on your boss head-on? Can performance be the shield... always? Without performance can one get away with just logical arguments? How can one balance standing up for oneself versus switching jobs eternally?

Have you heard of leaders being let go because they had high attrition in their team? What matters... is it WHO left or HOW MANY left? If performing leaders have high attrition, would you punish them? Is there a balance between high performance and talent retention? Is it prudent to look away, if high attrition teams are also the best performing ones?

How safe should one feel at workplaces, especially when it comes to being candid with your colleagues? Is hyper-caution increasingly needed in a highly digitally intruded space? Is it a thin line between the within and without of the organization? How safe is your internal townhall video from being posted on a public social media platform? Are we heading towards paranoid organizations asking emplo...

If you are not the top performer this year, what would you do? Play victim, quit or fight back? Have you experienced lean patches of performance and the connected feeling of irrelevance at work? What did the organization do to make you or your team feel irrelevant? How did you or would you fight the situation?

Do you want to work with larger than life promoters, but dont want the downside of working with the eccentric or scrappy side of them? Have you worked with founders or leaders with the unique balance of being classy when they have to be and agile enough to switch to be scrappy without feeling uncomfortable about it? I've seen this unique trait mostly among promoters... do you think otherwise? If y...

How many things have you learnt at work by getting a rap on the knuckle? Were you reprimanded at work for some instinctive behaviour of yours? Have you tried texting your boss at 11a.m saying you took an unplanned leave? If yes... how was your boss' response the next time you wanted a leave? Workplaces have many unsaid things that college didnt teach us. What are these various unsaid nuances of or...

Have you ever told anyone they weren't as good as they used to be? ...Or... if you are unable to do certain things you seamlessly did in the past, what does it tell about you? When do you know you've lost touch? Or your reportee or boss has lost that skill or touch? Is it performance, feedback from colleagues or showing up with zeal & energy? When was the last time you genuinely felt you've lo...

Do you struggle with some of your team members who don't scale up? Do you constantly wonder if they fit in? Can you spot your reportees who have great intent? Join in as we look at some of our reportees who are capable but dont intent, and vice versa.