Month: July 2020

To be an effective manager, it is important to be responsible enough to oversee and supervise the company’s actions and employees. Besides completely understanding your business, you need to be a leader. There are many books on leadership and management but choosing the best among them is an important thing. No matter whether you are already a manager or want to be one, books can help you to move towards your goal. Let us check out some of the top books on leadership and management.

14 Best Books on Leadership and Management

1. Corporate Chanakya by Radhakrishnan Pillai

It is an amazing not just about management but the successful living. The book has certain principals of Chanakya about management, leadership, advice, training, qualities of a strong leader, teamwork, and finance. Right from the start, the book takes your attention and once you go ahead it won’t be the same as there are around 175 chapters in the book, and each chapter deals with the different issues but more like the instruction manual.

2. Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Start With Why is one of the best book from the popular author Simon Sinek, posits that people will not possibly buy any product, movement, or idea until they know the WHY in it. Drawing over a range of the real-life stories, Simon weaves together the clear vision on what it takes to lead & inspire.

3. How to Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie

One of the oldest books and classic books that helps you to go after your dream job and get it! This is one very good book for the managers, employees, or anybody. The book is the timeless bestseller and packed with some great advice, which has carried many now popular people up a ladder of success on their business & personal lives.

4. Bhagavad Gita A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

The book Bhagavad Gita by A. C. Bhaktivedanta and Swami Prabhupada are very much respected by the students, laymen, and scholars. His works are widely used in college courses & seminars in different subjects, which include religion, philosophy, history, world literature, and social sciences.

5. From Values to Action by Harry M. Kraemer 

Buying From Values to Action will make a strong impact, as the author of the book Harry Kraemer will donate his proceeds from the book to One Acre Fund, the organization, which carries out the values-based management and leadership in the support of African farmers. At times “doing the right thing” while delivering long-lasting and outstanding results will be tough for the leaders to achieve, however, Kraemer knows that it can be easily done.

6. Leaders Make the Future by Bob Johansen

This is one book that provides insights into Johansen on how leaders will cope with the changes coming in the next some years. He states in his book that the world where leaders should operate will be volatile, complex, uncertain, and ambiguous and leaders have to apply their vision, clarity, understanding, and agility to go ahead effectively.

7. Leaders Eat Last

The book starts with the organization’s premise that responsibility lies with a leader and proceeds on benefits of the old-fashioned values of empathy & esprit de corps. The author talks about human merits and compassionate leadership, which operates with the view of long-term happiness & prosperity than selfish and risky short-term goals.

8. The 5 Levels Of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

What you think makes a good leader? Is it the position, skills, or getting the work done? In Maxwell’s new book on leadership, he explains in detail what he calls the 5 Levels of Leadership – permission, position, people development, production, and pinnacle – and some tips to achieve all of the different levels in your leadership roles.

9. The Secret of Leadership by Rahul Dravid, Prakash Iyer

This book is full of anecdotes that can give you a real-like lesson worth learning and charge you up. It is one highly recommended book for anyone who is on a path of building, becoming, and achieving something in their life. The right set of leadership skills will help you to smoothly attain your goals. This eases the execution and the book can help you to collect the perfect leadership mindset!

10. Leadership Wisdom by Robin Sharma  

The primary part of this book is overmastering eight rituals practiced by the visionary leaders. In a way, the rituals are presented in front of the audience and are quite unique. Yes, as a book title recommends, rituals will be delivered from Monk.

11. The New One Minute Manager By Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson 

For years, managers in the big & small businesses have followed The New One Minute Manager’s methods and increasing their job satisfaction, productivity, and prosperity. These real results were attained through learning management methods that spell out profitability for an organization and its employees.

12. The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger  

If you are running a small business or managing the whole team and collaborate with people to find the common goal, the Ride of a Lifetime is the right book for you. You can watch Bob develop some of his core values to stay the same as his skills develop & his challenges increase with time.

13. Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle 

The most practical and inspiring lessons on business success are presented in the Trillion Dollar Coach. To honor the business coach as well as inspire future generations, authors have codified Bill’s wisdom in the guidebook. This material draws on the interviews with more than 80 people who have worked with him.

14. Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser

This guide on building up the C-IQ is quit relevant to various kinds of relationships. Text is filled with examples and approaches to unpacking the conversational structures. This book can be used for the C-IQ audit for anybody in the leadership position. For the people working in education, this book is the best model to deal with incessant changes in the curriculum, policy, tech-integration, and staffing.

Wrapping Up 

It is quite clear that each leader and manager should read top books to widen their horizons, get perspective, and –take imaginative, bold, and enlightened decisions. Making a little time to read every single day and selecting the best books will help you to become a better leader.

Terminating an employee is never an easy job for any employer or HR representative. In the first place, selection, recruitment, training and onboarding is an expensive process as it is. Also, if the termination is not backed up by relevant and adequate reasons, or is not executed properly, it may lead to unpleasant situations. The employee may seek legal discourse for unfair termination or may spread negative word of mouth that may in turn severe the good-will of the company.

Termination of an employee can be attributed to a number of factors. It, however, especially gets gruelling for the employer when the termination is due to poor performance. When various attempts by the employer fail to work and the employee is not very keen to reform his/her performance, the best alternative is to terminate him/her from services.

However difficult it might be, it is legally possible, but only when proper precautions are taken. On the event of the contrary, the employer is most likely to be standing at the losing end of a legal case or stuck with an incompetent employee. On the event that the employer fails to provide proper pieces of evidence, the employee shall receive due compensations by labour laws for unfair dismissal.

But before that, it is important to list the pointers that, in fact, classify as “poor performance”:

• The unwillingness of the employee to be productive.
• Inability to complete tasks.
• Inability to meet deadlines.
• Unwillingness/Inability to correct errors.
• Inability to work in collaboration.
• Inability to learn new skills.
• Inability to come up with a good judgement.

If the above scenarios occur, the employers can fire the employee, but only after giving him/her enough scope for change or reform.

Steps to Effectively Terminate an Employee

1. PROPER JOB DESCRIPTION

At the beginning of the job, the employee shall be provided with a clear description of his/her job and his/her role, the duties to be performed, and the expectations of the organisation.

2. TRAINING

Every employee should be provided systematic training by the organisation. This is to ensure that the employees learn skills as necessary to meet the demands of the job and also work to the best of their ability.

3. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Performance evaluation is an important tool for tracking employee productivity. It is two-way communication between the HR representative and the employee. The employer may point out the domains of improvement for the employee, his/her current inefficiencies or immediate goals to be achieved.

4. IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM

Unsatisfactory performance or inefficiencies can be distinguished during such evaluation or through explicit conduct. At a point, when these inefficiencies are identified, the employer should transparently communicate that to the employee. He/She may also give him a course of action for improvement or tell him/her the need to improve. However, all of these exchanges, and assessments should be properly documented.

5. PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLAN OR PIP

After the formal assessment, the employer must provide opportunity to the employee for improvement by putting him under a PIP. However, the PIP needs to communicate as such information to the employee as follows:

• Reasons as to why his/her performance seems unsatisfactory
• The expectations of the organisation
• Tangible objectives
• Time-span of PIP evaluation
• Process of the training
• Consequent courses of action if the employee fails to improve

6. EVALUATION POST PIP

The employer needs to evaluate post PIP whether there is any significant change in the performance of the employee. If the employer/HR notices any change but feels it does not meet the present standards, the employer may put him/her under another evaluation period. However, it lies at the discretion of the HR representative himself. In case he/she feels that there is no significant change and no scope for improvement, he/she may resort to the termination of the employee. Any communication taken place shall be unfailingly documented by the employer.

7. KEEPING ALL THE DOCUMENTATION READY

When the decision for termination has been made, the employer must have all the documents ready at his/her fingertips before executing the termination. This is to have a legal upper hand incase the employee claims to file a complaint. Meticulous documentation of reports, evaluations, PIP and other communications and complaints will make the termination process easier for the employer.

8. SCHEDULING A TERMINATION MEETING

It is best to schedule a termination meeting with the employee at the end of the working day when the other co-workers are leaving. In the meeting, the employer should avoid small talk and get to the point directly. He/she should clearly state the reason for termination respectfully and with dignity. All the complaints, evaluations, chances provided should be briefly and clearly stated. It does sound like a tempting idea to carry out a termination over a call, or e-mail but a face-to-face meeting happens to be the most professional way to do it. Upon doing that, let the employee know how his/her previous contributions were credible. The employer should also communicate all the essential details, like leaves, compensatory pay, office equipment that have to be returned, so on and so forth

9. LISTEN

After the news of termination has been broken to the employee, it is most likely that he/she would have things to say. The employer should listen to them, answer any questions that they have. However, if the employee gets a place where he pleads for another chance, the employer must clearly communicate that the decision taken is final and binding and there is no further room for negotiations. Whatever conversation might take place, the employer should exercise a great deal of restraint and professionalism in his behaviour. Also, ideally, a termination meeting should not extend beyond 30 minutes.

10. BE CAREFUL

While terminating an employee an employer must be extremely careful in his discourse. He/she shall not say/do anything that might be used against him/her. For example, while termination the employer should only talk about documented and objective reasons for termination. He/she should not pick at the personal traits of the employee, his/her personal opinion of the employee or comparison with other employees. Such conversations may lead to exchanges that are immaterial and unnecessary. The employee may also use this to put the HR representative under a wrongful discrimination lawsuit.

11. END WELL

The employer should lastly hand a termination letter to the employee. He must also let him know when you expect it to be submitted. He must exercise enough grace and poise and end the meeting with a handshake and escort the employee out of this office.

Sample Termination Letter Template

*Your name*

*Street address*

*Zip code*

*Date*

*Recipient name*

*Title*

*Company name*

*Street address*

*Zip-code*

Dear *recipient name*

We regret to inform you that your employment with *company name* is being terminated, effective *date*. The termination is taking place on account of poor performance as outlined below :

1. *Performance issue*
2. *Performance issue*
3. *Performance issue*

You were issued written warnings of these performance issues on *date*, *date* , *date*. Copies of these warnings signed by you are in your personnel file. Your signature on each warning indicates that you had discussed it with your manager, including steps that might be taken to improve your performance. As stated in your final warning, you were required to improve your performance by *date*. Failure to do so has resulted in your termination.

To appeal this termination, you must return written notification of your intention to appeal to *Name* in HR no later than *time* on *date*.

Sincerely,

*Your name*

*Title*

Cc: *Manager name*

It is important to be noted that even after proper documentation and systematic chances given to the employee, the employer still is susceptible to a risk. This can occur when the offer letter provided to the employee does not state all the clear situations under which an employee is likely to be terminated.

Formulating a proper offer letter is not only professional but also important in future contingencies as such. Hence, for the protection of the employer’s interests, offer- letter should state the clear terms and conditions of termination. This includes clauses for termination under probation, clauses for termination post probation etc. On the acceptance of these shall an employee be able to join the company.

Terminating an employee in most cases seems like one of the most gruelling tasks an employer has to do. However, difficult it might seem, an incompetent and stagnant employee should be terminated nevertheless. However, with proper precautions taken, and systematic steps followed, as mentioned, an employer can easily weed out inefficient employees and also not fall prey to lawsuits that only add to the trouble.

Fired employees and now looking for new talents? Register here on our platform to find highly skilled candidates for your company.

Recruitment and Talent Acquisition are two important terms that are many times used interchangeably and appeared to be the same thing. Still, talent acquisition and recruitment isn’t a same thing. Knowing the differences between both of them and adapting the hiring procedure accordingly will help you to hire the top talent better. However, what is talent acquisition & how is this different from the recruitment? To know this, we must refresh our knowledge over what the traditional recruitment involves.

What is Recruitment?

Recruitment is a process of evaluating, searching, and hiring qualified and experienced people to fill the existing vacancy at the company or organization. Generally, it follows the specific and pre-defined recruitment procedure that is standardized and generally implemented in the periods of expansion or because of staff turnover.

There are many factors that will influence specific cycles and rhythms of the recruitment in different workplaces. The staff turnover figures tell us that the events or publishing sector had a very high turnover rate, whereas general management & admin had a lowest.

Recruitment is highly fundamental in running any kind of business, but it’s essentially the short-term process, which seeks to fill the company’s instant needs. Thus, how’s talent acquisition different?

What is Talent Acquisition?

The talent acquisition is quite similar to the recruitment in a sense it shares similar aim in finding the right people for your company. However, recruitment generally tends to be quite standardized, and reactive process, alternatively talent acquisition is about a long game of the company. This involves the dynamic and flexible approach from the recruitment team and broad understanding of long-term strategic goals of your business.

Importance of Recruitment for Business

When there is the job opening, companies will find new employees by the recruitment process. The hiring managers and HR professionals create the job descriptions, and promote it on their websites and job search platforms like Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn. Next step will be sifting through the applications, choosing the ones that are worthy of screenings and scheduling the follow-up interviews with most promising ones.

Recruitment vs Talent Acquisition – Difference between Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

One biggest difference between recruitment and talent acquisition is recruitment is momentary and reactive, but, talent acquisition is continuous and proactive. Another important difference about recruitment and talent acquisition is in mindset of a company & HR.

Recruitment	Talent Acquisition
One time process for vacancies	Long term process to align people with roles
Reactive measures for immediate business needs	Protective strategy aligned with business goals
Main focus on short-term performance metrics	Focus on short-term and long-term performance metrics

When Do You Recruit?

The recruitment is all about filling any immediate vacancies. If you recruit, you’re likely to know clearly what or who you are searching for. The position is left vacant or produced, there is already the list of tasks that new employee have to perform, and clear idea about the knowledge and skill requirements for a new employee.

In recruiting, focus generally tends to be over the current requirements of a company. The recruitment procedure raises questions of “can a person perform the required job” or “who will perform the tasks better in the given job position”.

You do not have to scrap recruitment & focus only on the talent acquisition. But, recruitment & talent acquisition must be the separate processes with various goals.

When Do You Require Talent Acquisition?

On the other hand, talent acquisition is the continuous process, which seeks to bring awareness of a right talent to the company, and attract best employees who are engaged and motivated.

Talent acquisition is the long-term HR strategy that is linked with the growth strategy of a company. In the talent acquisition, focus must be more to answer the questions on “how can we attract best talent” or “what to offer to the top talent”.

Consider talent acquisition strategy particularly…

When You Want Niche Talent

The talent acquisition strategy often is required if a company operates in the niche market and needs people with the specialized skill sets, which might be tough to come across. The industries and corresponding posts deal more with technology, like cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI, software development, and Virtual Reality.

Looking for Continuous Growth

All companies searching for growth will benefit from having the talent acquisition strategy. Companies look for the new ideas, talent, and levels of the employee engagement to a particular company.

Getting to Know You Better

If you’re competing best talent, then getting job applications on your way will be tough if the potential employees do not know you and cannot figure this out by visiting the website and social media networks. If it is a case, employer branding will be very important part of the talent acquisition strategy. Thus, it becomes very important for external and in-house recruiters and the HR specialists to know and agree with the employer brand. The talent acquisition is simple and straightforward, if people know your company & view it in the positive light so when they’re approached by your firm, you will fast forward the details.

Make Sure What You Need

Recruitment is all about filling the current or created job post, but with the talent acquisition, you will be sourcing for the right talent without being totally sure about their task on job would be. It’s important to find the people and make them do their best work than tying them in the specific task, and performed in the specific way.

Once you start, you will find road to success providing people you hire share your values, perform exceptional work as well as bring their vision and talent in-house, it’s important they see & support a big picture than ensuring they know to use a program or have years of experience to perform the specific task.

What You Learned?

One important thing you need to note here is that the recruitment is one part of the talent acquisition. But, to just engage in the recruitment is like putting a cart before its horse. All elements listed are essential to implement the strategy that can allow the companies to attract, maintain and recruit only the best talent. As industries continue to expand and populate as a preferred career goal, hiring managers are simultaneously looking out for the right candidates with the top talent, who are highly qualified, and can both ameliorate and benefit from working for a company.

Register here on our platform to hire top talents for your company.