Five HR lessons from Steve Jobs!!

Steve Jobs has changed the way the world uses mobile phones, no more just an equipment to call on the go, but a device for all round communication and entertainment. Steve Jobs was not known to follow trends but he made the trends which people followed.

But what lessons can HR learn from Steve Jobs?  Steve’s leadership qualities and his ability to think outside the square was what made Apple into a force to reckon with. Here are five lessons HR can learn from Steve Jobs:

Innovation

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” -Steve Jobs

Innovation requires passion and the right environment to fuel the passion. Hire for potential and not just for experience. When people are passionate they produce exceptional results. We have all heard of the 80/20 rule of Google where employees get 20% of their time to innovate. HR pros let’s give innovation a chance.

Think Different

“Because the people, who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do!”-Steve Jobs 

Innovation comes from ideas, and ideas from thinking. Don’t let ideas and creative thought process be drowned by red tape, legislation and procedures. Like Steve said, encourage crazy ideas which may seem preposterous because they may change the world.HR pros champion innovation and reward different thinking.

Continuous learning

“Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."-Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs continued to learn from his failures throughout his life. Encourage people to continue learning and not be afraid to fail. People should feel that trying something different is not taboo. Focus on how the individual can learn from the mistakes and how they will not repeat it in the future. Continuous learning is important even for the HR professionals. Continuous learning is not only in classrooms but opportunities to work on secondments in other departments, learning from each other - through lunch and learn sessions, master classes and cross-mentoring.HR pros don’t stop learning.

Marketing and promoting by unusual means

“Customers don't know what they want until we've shown them.”- Steve Jobs 

Steve did not wait for the customer to demand something instead he created products which the customer would desire and couldn’t do without.HR teams often fall apart when it comes to promoting their agenda whether it is related to Talent and succession or new social media policies or learning programs. Many HR teams make everything compulsory and get away from promoting and marketing to their customers, but they surely would not go a long way. If you have designed a great intervention or learning program find unique ways of promoting it.

User experience- creating experiences, customer comes first

“You've got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around."-Steve Jobs

While it is important to follow regulation and legislation, it is paramount to put yourselves in the user’s shoes before creating the next HR policy or procedure. No one is fond of filling long winded forms to get to a HR benefit. Just keep it simple silly!!

In conclusion, while there are several great lessons that Steve has taught us and will continue to inspire generations to come, here is a last one which applies to us all whether working in HR or not.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.”-Steve Jobs

About the Author

Garima Gupta is a global HR Professional with passionate about all HR things even after 13 years in the field. She holds a rich working experience in different industries ranging from FMCG, retail, education and largely in financial services and has been fortunate to get opportunity to work in India, China, Australia and USA. After various stints internationally, she has recently returned back home to US and can be contacted for career advice and consulting on garimagupta.usa@gmail.com

 

Positive Words- Shots of Motivation!

                                              

It’s one of those days of the week when there is stagnancy, inertia in the air. We are caught up in a state of limbo and unfortunately these days are repetitive; the mundane routine is bogging us down. We’re constantly waiting for something to happen, something to transform, something to shift us forward in our lives or relationships. Life seems to be happening around us, but we can’t seem to get on the track we’d like to be on. What keeps us motivated, inclined to carry on the daily monotonous repetition? It’s having things to look forward to like vacations, holidays, days off from work, weekends, promotions, a big event coming up, and lot more.

There is an additional aspect which keeps us motivated too in a very subtle way, it’s the words we hear and announce out loud. Words are potent! When ideas fail, words come in handy. They really have the ability to inspire, motivate, and persuade but at the same time they are entirely responsible to discourage, dismiss and dissuade. Whether it’s building a team, mending a relationship or launching a product the right words spoken at the right time can transform the absolute scenario. There are few sentences which motivate us at any point of time whether its nike saying  “Just do it” or loreal telling you “ you are worth it”, for a moment they give you that zing and sway you to get going.

“I trust you!”stands number one in my list, when you listen to your boss, your spouse, your friends, people around you say that, swiftly there is a sense of confidence in the self, there is a need to fulfill the expectation of all the people who trust you, It instantly creates a self belief and an urge to be trusted all the time.

“Never give up” you fail, you stumble, you make blunders in life, at that stage if there is someone to back you up with these words, what do you do, you instantaneously react to the situation. It works vice – versa, just tell this to someone with utmost conviction and they will thank you all their lives to be by their side.

You are stuck, you are anticipating, you are procrastinating, “Make it happen” “Just start” “you can do it” these are the words you want to hear to help you rise and take that leap. In the midst of striving to reach your goals, to achieve those difficult targets, time when you are telling your strained muscles to stop, it is lines like these which leave an impact.

Praises, acknowledgement, and appreciation of all manner forever makes a person feel superior. But there are definite sentences which create an aura of motivation around us; something as effortless as “you deserve it” “Keep it up” “you rock” just builds a sense of achievement and a willingness to work towards maintaining that achievement comes automatically. Incentive theory of motivation works for most of the people, people are motivated to work because of the pay cheque that they receive every month, but the idea is if words akin to that pay cheque are used to encourage the employees the drive to work harder increases drastically.

In every course of life, we got to find our own motivation, be it positive self talk, plain conversation of encouragement, music that races with your heartbeats, movie that makes you get on the track and run, a superman or batman that inspires you to be your own superhero. Ultimately, we got to be our own cheerleader, accept ourselves and expect more from ourselves. 

So, Stay motivated, Stay inspired and make a difference in the lives of people around you with your words and actions.  

Cheers!