What is social service? We all have our own definitions and it is perfectly legitimate to explain the term in your own words. This is because social service is not a task that can be articulated in words, it is a feeling that comes out of care and compassion within.Social service is a lot about caring for people, bringing a smile on the faces, lending a hand. Helping someone around is a voluntary act, a selfless action with no expectations. Social service becomes worthwhile only when it is done with a big heart and happiness. Seeing a smile on someone’s face is instant gratification for a thoughtful deed. When we help people in need, the best part is that we listen to them. Sometimes, the time we spend with someone fills the biggest gap. Social service is a lot about accepting everybody and not being judgemental or even emotionally evolved. Social service is not a job, it is a discipline. It isn’t only about what you do, how you do it is what matters. At the base of social service lies love, empathy and positivity. To work for the common good is the biggest service, a feeling larger than your own life. Social service can be providing employment to someone, sharing food with someone, ensuring education for someone, providing medicines to patients or anything under the sun for which you feel from within. To be a guiding light to someone who is in darkness is true social work.
Communication in business encompasses every aspect. It doesn’t limit itself to internal employee communication or external brand communication. The way we talk to people around us largely comes out of our natural habituated style. Seldom do we pause and analyse our communication with others. However cliche the term might sound, communication rules every business and we have to be conscious. It is a core business requirement and must be managed at all levels in order to ensure smooth flow of information up and down the hierarchy within as well as with the outside world.
There can be both – Downward and Upward Communication within an organisation. Downward communication, which is the more prevalent one is when instructions and information flow from the senior hierarchy downwards to the team. Upward communication comprises information flow from the team members to the senior hierarchy levels. This could be in the form of ideas, issues, grievances, appeals, requests and so on. In organisations, apart from upward and downward communication, there is lateral communication as well. That is not dependant on hierarchy and happens across levels. Whatever the form of communication is, there always needs to be a strategy in place. When people communicate openly and honestly, there is transparency, trust and clarity. There are innumerable benefits of defining a communication strategy within an organisation. It helps to improve the overall productivity of the organisation and creates an environment of positivity around.
Communication is not always limited to the confines of a company. We communicate with customers, vendors, suppliers, other businesses, communities and so on. Whenever we talk with stakeholders outside the organisation, we are representing our brand and creating an identity for the same. Not only that, we are also managing customer relationships, giving and receiving feedback and much more. Hence, there needs to be a consistency in our language, thoughts and expressions.
If you just communicate you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles. Jim Rohn
Human capital will go where it is wanted, and it will stay where it is well treated. It cannot be driven; it can only be attracted.
Walter Wriston
Human Resource is like non-renewable natural resource. It is available everywhere but needs to be discovered. Merely discovering is not enough, once found, it needs to be worked upon, taken care of, given opportunities and chances to prove. An organisation that truly values human capital as an asset makes investment on the welfare and development of its employees.
Covid has brought about significant changes in people’s lives and their way of thinking. However, there is one thing that hasn’t changed; the importance of human beings at work. 2020 made us realise that even more. Working with human beings is all about understanding and empathising. The current times are also challenging the old beliefs where only an employer has the right to choose its employees. Today people are making conscious choices while choosing the kind of organisation they want to work with. An organisation that has the vision of adding quality to the lives of its employees is a preferred workplace. Attrition and salary cuts might have dictated the market during the covid phase, but being with your employees in their thick and thin is what matters.
When employees of an organisation are given respect, a positive environment is created. Measures like employee engagement and development further boost the trust of employees and bag their loyalty for the organisation. It is essential to create a safe and healthy work environment where there is focus on employee well-being. Regular training and upskilling are a must that every organisation must provide to its workforce. Adaptability comes with learning and knowledge enhancement. Training initiatives not only help in upgradation but also breathe new thoughts and ideas in the minds of the trainees. The worth of a business is a matter of how the human capital is nurtured. Strengthening the human capital is all about building a cohesive and collaborative workplace where people look at the bigger picture and share the organisation’s vision.
There is always a debate on whether we should define our work or our work should define us. I am a businesswoman but I am not just that. That is one of the many things I am. So, when someone asks me what do I do, I have a creative elevator pitch to offer. I say that I am a businesswoman, a fitness enthusiast, a traveller, a wife and a mom. It might take a few seconds more than what a usual introduction would but I am happy that it describes me.
The winning formula for me is my focus. I immerse myself in the task at hand, be it a personal or a professional commitment. When I am in office, I give wholehearted attention to my team and my tasks. When I am with my kids, I am only a mom and a friend to them, when I am working out, I am only busy feeling my body. The habit of giving my 100% to everything works wonders for me.
I have my set of values that define me at work. It doesn’t matter whether I am at my fitness studio motivating people or dealing with my team at Shilp, my values of integrity, passion and focus govern me. I am a people manager and love to discover more about human behaviour each day. Emotional intelligence does the trick for me. Dealing with people, delegating work, ensuring results all boils down to managing relationships. I share a happy relationship with all my team members and that is prime.
I give equal importance to my work responsibilities at home too. Taking care of my loved ones, delegating the household chores, cooking new dishes, managing relationships at the personal front are all a part of my self-assumed responsibilities. I feed my soul with frequent trips, parties and shopping. And to share the truth, I just love it this way. Work for me cannot be segregated into office and home. I ensure I am where I am needed. I set my priorities right, manage my time efficiently and just aspire to inspire every day.
I have had my share of troubles and so has everyone else but my life itself has been the best education that I have received. As a child I always struggled to find who I am and what is the purpose of my life. I grew up to be a responsible sister, a loving daughter and a caring grandchild. I always wanted to be a giver but couldn’t fathom the how. I kept waiting for life to unfold itself allowing me to sneak beneath the covers.
And then it happened, but gradually. The first lesson I learnt here was patience. Life has always been kind to me for blessing me with wonderful parents, grandparents and siblings. I couldn’t have asked for more when I was bestowed with a loving partner and two beautiful children. But there was something amiss, I always kept wondering. Life kept telling me that God has been the best architect, but it was now my turn to build my foundation strong and choose my own bricks. I started thinking deeply and started to realise that I don’t need to be someone I am not because I am good at being me. I may be ordinary but, in my eyes, I am special and that’s what matters. That’s where my journey of fulfilment began.
I became conscious and aware and started to embrace myself. I set myself on to shaping a better version of myself. I commenced my journey of fitness for harnessing my mind, body and soul. Gradually, exercise became meditation for me and now not a day passes where I don’t worship my body. I turned my love for exercise into a profession and set up my own Pilates and fitness studio. I became a fitness motivator and brought about a turnaround in so many lives and the feeling was alluring. The feeling of working for others and achieving objectives led me to take a bigger leap when I started playing an active role in my family business. I feel so nice when I make mindful decisions impacting business. I love to work with a variety of people, love to guide them, mentor them and even learn from them. I know one thing for sure that I keep myself busy with work accomplishments and the happiness they bring to me. I never ever forget that I am a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend and above all a human being. The one thing I truly love about myself is my ability to multitask and that’s what keeps me going. I hop roles and change outfits like no one else. I breathe life in my tasks and make them interesting. Not a day passes without challenges, but overcoming them is now a hobby. I am strong because I am happy within and life can never get me down, even if I fall, I’ll bounce back with greater energy because lately I have started to love myself truly, madly, deeply.
As the song by Whitney Houston goes – ‘Each day I live, I want to be, a day to give the best of me. I want one moment in time when I’m more than I thought I could be, when all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me’.
I don’t live life, I celebrate it because I have realised that when I love my life, it loves me right back, unconditionally. True value of moments is realised when they become memories and I try and make each day a memory in the book of my life.
Celebration to me is in all the moments I spend with myself and the people I love. Celebration is cooking a new authentic dish, buying a new outfit for myself, trying a new restaurant and even talking to an old distant friend. I experience joy when I handle multiple tasks at a time – my office, my workout, my kids, my home and all the never-ending tasks I accomplish each day. When I dance, I feel I have amassed all the happiness of the world within me, it’s a feeling so tough to define.
When I am at work, I am immersed into it. Each moment I spend there, I enjoy being busy and productive. And at the end of the day, I realise how every minute of being output oriented is a celebration in itself. Up in the lap of the mountains, I feel life is a gift and I treasure it the best in the midst of Mother Nature. I experience joy of the pure air I breathe there and each muscle of my body celebrates.
I know for sure that each day I live, I celebrate and thank God for the abundant life he’s blessed me with. I love to celebrate every day as my birthday with little music, little dance, little joy, little excitement and giving back to God for my beautiful life.
