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Tune into your Privilege

Privilege is the unearned advantage that we have. It is also called “birth Lottery” and people who have it are blind to it. Recognising our privileges, realising the price associated with it, acknowledging those who are not as privileged as us and using privilege for collective good will make us better humans and the world a better place to live. Stereotypes, Unconscious Bias and privileges create an unloved playing fields for individuals including at our workplace. Understanding Privilege Imagine you are standing on an imaginary line, which is a starting point for a race. Before the race starts, the referee calls out couple of questions, the ans to which is only True or False. With every True you take one steps forward and with every False you stay in your place. Your upbringing was in metro city Both your parents were graduates Both your parents were alive and together at […]

October 3, 2020

Sharpshooter in Saree

What do the words Sharpshooter in Saree remind you of? Definitely not the Charlie’s angels or the Bond girl! Not even Wonder woman. It could however remind you of Prakashi Tomar & Chadro Tomar, sisters-in-law, octogenarians who made history of being oldest sharpshooters. The film Saand Ki Aankh is based on their life. Majhiyar should make it to history lesson Somewhere, tucked away in a Madhya Pradesh, a city called Majhiyar, in Rewa District, women took guns to protect their village from a dacoit called “Dadua”. While the men were away to earn their living, Dadua and his gang used to barge into the houses, harass the women and little girls and also steal the cattle. The women did not sit back waiting for authorities to take action. Twelve women acquired guns to protect themselves to guard the three villages they belonged to. Patrolling on the periphery of the village, […]

September 15, 2020

Being Inclusive During COVID Times

COVID times are difficult times. They are times of stress, crisis, difficulties, worries or what may be called as cognitive load. Under such circumstances when our system 2 is busy, system 1 takes over and our decisions may be biased. During these times it is more important to be deliberate an be inclusive in our behaviours. Bias Defined Biases are shortcuts that our brain creates to make sense of this world. At any moment in time, our brain is exposed to 11 million bits of data, and it has the capacity to process 40 bits. Do your maths and 11 million bits minus 40 bits is what is processed by our unconscious mind Without thinking too much try and answer the following : If the first think that came to your mind is Rs 10/- then you are part of the majority. This question has been asked muckiest Daniel Kahneman, […]

September 14, 2020

Participant speak

What better way to know the impact of our program than those who have attended it. Taking up new assignments is one of them. Another participant talks about how she made both in her professional and personal life. Being perceived as vocal was working against her. She says, she’s is still vocal but only in circumstances or situations where she wants to be or she should be. The participants from our flagship program also called Ananya-Women@Work. To know more visit our page on Women Leadership Program http://ananyawomenatwork.com/womens-leadership-potential/ If you want to know more about it do connect with us at connect@ananyawomenatwork.com

August 17, 2020

To Leave or not to Leave – Period

Period leave also known as menstruation leave #Zomato has offered 10 days of additional leave for women over and above their entitled leave. It means they can take additional 10 days off in a year for their period. Read more about it. Break the taboo In India Period talk is taboo talk and period leave (shhhhh …. no one in the office should know I’m having my periods). It’s a hush talk between women and a subject of mockery or derision amongst the men (well well …. not all men). Until recently, all the advertisements used blue colour to indicate blood on pad. The word PMS is used loosely to attribute women’s mood swings. An angry woman (or upset or any other related emotion) is assumed to be PMSing, Time to stop this and treat PMS as PMS and not explain every mood swing as PMS Moving a conversation around […]

August 11, 2020

Managing Difficult conversations during COVID Times

COVID Times are different times. Difficult conversations become even more difficult because we’re experiencing very high levels of emotions. From Work From home some us of have already moved to Work from Office or a combination of both. A little bit about emotions We label are emotions as positive and negative. Emotions are just emotions. Instead of labelling them as positive or negative emotions, let’s just call them emotions and deal with them in a manner which gives best outcomes. Times are different. All of us are juggling between childcare , eldercare, household chores, our regular office work to name a few. Uncertainties are high. People who staying alone are experiencing loneliness. Humans are social animals. We are missing the personal touch, the water cooler conversation, the hallway greetings, the bumping into each other, the coffee in the canteen. There is also something good that has happened. We are now […]

August 3, 2020

Building Emotional Resilience during COVID Times

We are experiencing unprecedented times. How do we build our emotional resilience? The Work From Home has been a reality for a long time .. but it’s different now. Defining emotions How are your feeling today? or How is WFH treating you?The answers will vary from person to person. Some say they are happy as they are getting to spend time with their family, others say it’s tough. Some have lost their jobs, while others are anxious about how will they manage after the reduced salary. Emotions can be positive or negative. Either ways need to deal with them. Emotions are real. Emotions are us. Traditionally we’ve learnt to dismiss our emotions by saying words like – “it’s all going to ok”, – “you’re thinking too much”, – “Try and divert your mind” ,– “Stop watching the news, listen to some music”– “Forget the anger; ” Emotions Controlling us What […]

August 2, 2020

Managing Personal Energy during WFH times

Managing personal Energy Vs. Managing Time What’s different in WFH during current time Work From Home (WFH ) is not something new. Some of us have experienced it personally and most of us know it. How is this WFH different from the pre-COVID times ? The shortest list possible: Children are home schooling No support in terms of domestic help Resources like Laptop and computer system have to be shared between office work and online classes for children Endless work meetings Internet connection issues And above all, without any time to prepare ourselves, we were thrown into the situation. As a result, we experienced high levels of emotional and physical fatigue while we were struggling to do justice to all that we planned for the day. Managing Time Vs Managing Energy The problem with Time management is that Time is finite resource – exactly 24 hours in day and 168 […]

July 20, 2020

Making most of Work From Home mandate

COVID 19 has changed the way businesses work. This is specially true for the IT & ITes industry, where Work from Home (WFH) is an option. WFH is not an option for manufacturing, retail, construction and other services organisations like hospitality. Despite the difficulty, these industries are still asking the employees to use the time for skill upgradation, strategising, planning and other activities which will help maximising productivity post COVID period. In my last post for online meeting mandates for managers I spoke about what managers can do to make most of the online meetings during these times of uncertainty. The uncertainty around the Virus and the direct impact of it on the world and businesses, each one of us are also going through an internal turmoil. We’ve have had to adapt to news ways of working, building new connections, become comfortable with socialising using technology and many more… The […]

April 14, 2020

Manager mandate during online meeting

#lockdown #COVID19 #Workfromhome #meeting The country-wide lockdown (should I say world-wide) has changed the dynamics of workplace. Along with COVID-19 virus that we’re dealing with, we’re also made to deal with a lot of unknown. None of management gurus / management books have ever spoken / written about ways to deal with such a situation. Organisations have to think about innovative ways of dealing with the new normal. Soon we will see new models in BCP to keep the business alive. What’s different for the teams? Virtual teams are the new normal. Work from Home is the new reality. Stay at home is the new mandate. On-line meetings is the new way of work. How are on-line meetings from home different? Learning the new way of working has become inevitable. Platforms like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams and other meeting software are becoming the order of the day. The industry is […]

April 14, 2020

I do Celebrate International Women’s Day

What’s the fuss about Women’s day? Do we really need Women’s day? Isn’t every day women’s day? What’s the fuss about women’s day? Women already have so many privileges like special berths in trains, quotas in politics, Maternity leave while in work … just to name a few, what do men have ? When will men be granted any of the privileges? Everyday is women’s day! Why a special day? About Women’s Day International Women’s Day (#IWD), falls on March 8 every year, celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also sets a reminder on the lack of opportunities for women and marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. This day I celebrate and express my gratitude I use this day to celebrate and express my gratitude to all those women who’ve made it big Those who made it in Sports despite all […]

March 1, 2020

They is Gender Inclusive

Well you read it right …. Plural “They” along with singular “is” in a single sentence . Let’s first understand what is meant by gender inclusive language … before we figure out plural and singular. This is not yet another fad which will fade away. Instead it is an attempt to debunk stereotypes and acknowledge the contribution of every individual without preference to any gender. Our gendered language may be attributed to our unconscious bias (read more about unconscious bias in our blog)/ Here is a list of nouns which indicate inclusion (the list is not comprehensive). Now, going back to the title of this blog, can we really use They as singular? Will it not be a treated grammatical error? Merriam Webster dictionary is here to rescue. Check out the definition of They particularly 3d. By using “medical attendant” instead of “nurse” and “firefighter” instead of “fireman” we […]

February 17, 2020

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