A Reason To Resign

It's the most wonderful time of the year, they say. Christmas's coming, discounts are everywhere, and for corporate officers like me, the end of the year is all about performance appraisal and bonus.

So, while waiting for that time to come, I will not deny the fact, that just like everyone else, these times are the times when I feel I should decide, whether next year I will be staying in this same office, doing the same job, report to the same boss, etc. According to the data, in the beginning of the year (after year-end bonus), people are most likely to hand over their resignation letters.

I would like to sum up some of the main points (at least in my point of view), that we can consider before we choose to shift to another career option. It all depends on what we are looking for at work:

1. Financial Security
a.k.a money.
I think this is the main focus of typical married man with kids. The amount of income, the stability of company's financial condition, and other facilities, like medical coverage become their main reason to survive or to move to other place.

2. Your Job, Your Pride
This is the second most popular reason why people work. I mean, there is even a saying: If you love what you do, then you will never feel that you have to work. However, it is also the hardest example to find. How many colleagues you find at work, who actually claim that they LOVE what they do?
For some people, the job they have, the title/ position they're sitting at, the company they serve, and the office location they go to everyday can be their main reason to continue working or to resign. I don't know about you, but it feels so good when my friends ask me where I work at, and I can answer those questions proudly.

3. Leadership
Unlike two points above, leadership is the factor that you can not know or choose from the beginning. But having a good boss can really determine everything. From your career ladder, your development (both technical & soft skill), your mood to work, and finally your reason to resign.

4. Promotion/ Career
As what is prescribed in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, people need to actualize themselves and for grown-ups, it can be done through your work. The complimentary part after self-actualization is getting recognized. Rewards, awards, and promotions, are very important to retain the employees to say, stay & strive.

5. Environment/ Culture
Last but never least, is the working environment/ culture. Culture is definitely one of the most important aspect of a company. Bad or unfavorable culture can cause unhappy & unproductive employees, dissatisfied customers, and eventually, ineffective company's business. Ironically, culture is tangible, you can not see it, but you can feel it. That's what makes it harder to fix an unfavorable culture. It takes tremendous effort, time, and strong management commitment to produce a healthy & favorable culture.

In addition, we should never forget that now we have millenials at work, who, as far as I am concerned, shift their jobs every 1-2 years. Makes employee engagement more challenging than ever.

So, for those who are thinking of resign and move to other career plans, make sure you know your focus at work. Remember that every workplace has their positives and negatives. It definitely a challenge for us, to find the most suitable ones. After all, life is a choice, make yours and be proud about it.

References:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/081015/8-reasons-why-valued-employees-quit.asp
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2014/05/11/the-top-8-reasons-your-best-people-are-about-to-quit-and-how-you-can-keep-them/#5129e0ca719b
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2015/03/13/culture-why-its-the-hottest-topic-in-business-today/#6934f77cb6e2

Life is Tough, But ...

I am writing this blog live from my office desk. It is Wednesday, middle of the week, caught in the frustrating documents and demanding tasks (not to mention certain people), and I feel like writing a blog while listening to Yiruma will actually decrease this upset feeling.

I do not know if it is normal to feel upset just because of the small things. Like overheard someone talking about you, in quite a negative way. I don't get upset easily, but I do now. I feel more disappointed because I feel like I am being judged regardless of whatever reasons I have. 

Sadly, it has been an ugly truth, a general knowledge that Life is Never Fair. Fairness in the workplace is even harder to see. Your colleagues get recruited, promoted, appreciated, not because of their competencies & achievements, but because of whatever reasons the bosses think they deserve. 

I don't blame them or the system. Performance appraisal is always subjective.

Though it is tough, there is one thing to know for sure: Do Not Let Anyone Get In The Way Of Your Happiness. Life is tough to you, and so it is to everyone else. But, the good news is: you can decide your own happiness by deciding your reaction. I have decided to be happy and to embrace all the life lessons given in this life. 

Life is never fair. That's what makes it fair. So, choose wisely :)

It was not T.G.I.F, it was Thanks God I'm Safe.

Been a while since I lasted updated my blog. Only in this middle of Jakarta's chaos, I managed to have some time to write. Although my mom warned me all the time to stay in my boarding house during weekend (she even forbade me to go to church), I could not stand the loneliness. So here I am, sitting comfortably in the nearest coffee shop, with my long-term-companion (read: laptop), earphones on both sides, and iced vanilla latte.

I will probably just mumble, because I don't have anything to write in particular.
Okay, I will talk a bit about yesterday's demonstration. I do not know much about the politics behind it. At first, all I care was whether my office would declare it as a day-off or not (sadly, it wasn't). I remain calm, though I read all of those articles, and know that my family in Surabaya would feel anxious about it. I don't blame them. As a former student who studied mass media. I know sometimes the media exaggerate, whether it is only for the title or the pictures. Bad news is good news.

I was accompanying my friends to shop for her wedding day, when I realized that the terror got worse. Burnt cars, robbed store, and the use of tear gas to help calming the actors. I got home late that night and directly turned the tv on, feeling afraid that some '98 events repeated. The images shown are quite terrifying. no wonder even my dad, called me twice that night to make sure I am okay.

I don't know what should I write, Is it about the impacts of media that spread some words of Ahok and eventually outrage some people? Is it about Ahok's words itself that are sometimes controversial? I mean, he should know better that he has enemies, spying on every step he takes and every word he says.
But instead of blaming him, I sympathize him. And his family. I wonder how they cope with this terror everyday. Surely this is not the first time. It is true up to a point, that he has supporters. But how do you live with the facts that there are so many people dislike you, that they can potentially hurt the innocent people with the same race and religion like you? Sounds like a korean historical drama I've been watching recently :p

All in all, I pray for Indonesia, I pray for the maturity of the people and for the peaceful democracy.
(Just like Martin Luther King Jr. said) I have a dream that someday, we will be able to freely choose our leader, in spite of his/her race, gender, and religion.

Though again, I am just mumbling, and this writing is nothing in particular.

The Job

Hey there! Been quite long since I last posted. Due to the planning cycle at my office, I have been kept really busy and overloaded. I haven't finished the book I promised to review, soo in this opportunity, I thought I will share a little bit about my job, and the section I am currently working.

Well, I worked as an Organization Development (OD) analyst/ officer. I know, it is an abstract title. I did not know what that word means a year ago. In the office, I belong to HR division, but OD mostly talks about the system rather than the people in an organization. In some companies, though, OD doesn't always belong to HR, it can be a part of corporate function, like corporate planning function, etc.

So what does an OD do? well, I will tell you based on the ideal theory I got during my in-class-training.

1. Business Process Mapping
There are hundreds of definition of what Business Process Management is, but I'm going to give you a simple one. It is actually mapping out workflow process, as effective, efficient & as adaptive as the company wants. Every company has a business process, whether it is documented or not. For example in my company, as a leasing company our major business process is: Sales - Credit - Service - Collection. Business process comes down from company's strategy, vision & mission, and WBAWI (What Business Are We In).
As an OD, we need to map out business process in each function (it's called minor business process), measure its effectiveness and improve them, to be more efficient & effective than before. In fact, having an adaptive business process can be a huge competitive advantage for a company.

2. Competency Management
After we map out a clear business process, we can know what core competencies the company need. To survive, an organization needs to have capable people and therefore we need to determine what are the core competency that the people in the organization need to master. Then, we can recruit the right people in the right place.

3. Organization Management
Along with competency management, OD has to create the organization structure, the positions equipped with clear job descriptions, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and the position rank in the company (Job Value). KPI determines how a position holder's performance will be evaluated. Job Value determines the position's rank among any other positions, whether that position can be assigned to a bachelor degree fresh graduates, or an experienced professional, and job value also determines the starting salary and the top-stop salary for the position holders.

4. Productivity Management
Last but not least, OD needs to plan the resources needed to do all the jobs designed above. First, we need to determine how many people is enough to hold each position. We can do it by determining productivity standard, measuring the workload in the positions, and analyzing the target for each position, and also, the long part: discussing it with the users (authorized positions, usually the head of the position).
Regularly, OD has to review, analyze & improve people productivity. Because the business is getting tougher, the company wants to be more efficient, but the salary has to increase, so the resources need to be more productive. Annually, we have to do "manpower planning", a process to plan the number of people needed in the organization. A number that is enough to achieve the sales target, but also enough to make the company profit. And this is the hardest part, that consumes most of my life in these months. Often, OD get stucked between the operation target that needs as many people as needed to achieve the target, while the finance function demands the number to be "as small as possible" to fit in the profitability report. And it happens every year.

God, it is Sunday and I am writing about my job to you all. A good reminder before Monday, I guess.

Cheer up, Monday People!

I am 24 and I don't know what to do in my life: Am I Normal?

I woke up this morning and I am frightened. I am scared to face this day, and what scares me the most is the fact that I no longer have goals in my life. I am in a phase that people call as a mid-life crisis.

I think this is the right time for me, as an adult to really think about what I want to do in life. Last year, a senior colleague of mine, told me and several fresh graduates to write down 30 things we want to achieve in the next 10 years. And I write a lot, like being a career woman in a multinational company, get married, start a family, build a big house and a car, run a small-owned business that I can manage while taking care of my children, travel to foreign countries once a year, and many more. I think it was quite a realistic dream at that time.

However, as time goes by, and BOOM suddenly I turned 24 this year, and I am terrified that my life would not go accordingly to what I have planned before. I am not saying that I am not happy right now. I have got a job in a big company, which is a part of a world-well-known company. I have fun colleagues at work and massive career & development opportunities. My parents are happy and healthy, and though I have to work far from home, I always have the resources (money and time) to come back home. So what can go wrong with all of those?

I know, I should be giving thanks instead of complaining. And I do. And I am not complaining at all. But what I mean is, I just don't know what to do next. I don't know whether I am going to stay working in this field or not (because it is far from what I have learnt in college). I don't know if I am living my dream or I am just wasting time. I feel bored sometimes, and I have asked myself whether I would be happy doing this kind of job for like 5 years. And I though the answer is no. But again, I don't know if feeling bored would be normal for employees like me. I guess I am just being envious of those people who claimed that they love what they do, because it is their passion. 

But is working by your passion really exists, or is it just a trap, because all works eventually require endurance & patience?

Sometimes I think that I'd like to take up new skills, by joining courses and I even think about going back to college for my master degree. But again, I am lost. I don't which course or major would be enjoyable and at the same time beneficial for me and my future career. 

The second thing that makes me petrified is that I am seeing a lot of my friend getting married, being pregnant, or even getting proposed by their boyfriends. 5 years ago, I would say that I am optimistic to get married at 25-27. But hey again, I am not seeing anyone right now so I am sooo afraid that I would not be able to have my plans done. I am tired of seeing those quotes of finding the right ones. I  just can't seem to find one. And this makes me feel lost because I thought at this age, I would be busy planning about my future family.

I would really appreciate if you share you experiences here. But let me tell you this one thing: Take a deep breath. You are normal. It is okay to feel confused. And lost. And sad. And afraid.

You know, not everything will go according to our plans. The world doesn't happen that way. If you really want something, then work for it,

I think it is time for us, to plan our life out (again), and this time make it work. I am thinking hard, too right now. One of my friends who study psychologist, taught me to find what my passion is. It consists of 4 tangling circles like this, well back then he just taught me 2 of those (what you're great at & what you love). 

You may use it as your guidance, as I will too. Just one last thing to remember: It is okay to be confused and afraid. We just start figuring out what our lives can be. Keep calm and let's conquer the world!

 

The Perks of Being A Communication Student

I know I said I would blog yesterday, but I lied. Headache hit me like a rock and caused me to sleep earlier. I planned to write my review about a great book I have been reading for months, but sadly I haven't finish it, so yeah next time I PROMISE I WILL.

Today, I want to straight up the facts about communication science students. Basically these are my personal answers based on my personal experiences as a communication student. Frankly because I don't seem or heard like one.
I am writing this because I am tired of people's prejudices, perceptions, and expectations about what a communication student should be or do. I have heard comments, whether it's about communication students in general, or about me, not being "communicative" enough to be one. Well, enough for the opening, let me clear it up for you one by one:

Rumor #1: Communication is all about public speaking, means if you are a communication student, you should have a good public speaking skill 

That is up to a point, that as a communication student, we were taught about public speaking, thus we have the basic knowledge and should be able to do it well. BUT, communication is A LOT MORE than that. It is not only about speaking. To be able to communicate well, we should first LISTEN. Listening skill, I believe is harder than speaking skill. I did not get that subject for specific, but we were thought that in order to speak effectively, we should understand our partner's field of experience and frame of reference. To understand, we MUST listen.

Second, communication also simply means conveying your message. Conveying messages can be done, not only by talking or verbal expression, but also writing, drawing/ showing images, singing, and even without talking, your non verbal expression itself can convey certain messages.

In college, how to convey messages in various channels. From writing journals, news, PR releases, to social media status in order to get the publics (people who are meant to get your messages) understand and do what we want. We were also taught to create video or graphic images effectively to send the messages to the target audience.

In short, there are so many things we learnt to be a good communicator, whether it's through our languages, our intonations, our facial expressions, and our writings. So, please do not offend us, that all we can do is speak well.

Rumor #2: Why would you spend 4 years of college learning communication? You can learn it at the nearest course and master it within 4 months or less!

One of my high school friend, said this statement to me, and I haven't got the chance to explain it, so here is my answer:

It still relates to rumor #1, in order to communicate effectively, we have to learn about cross culture communication, their politics and perceptions. Communication happens in many other forms, so we learn about organizational communication, interpersonal communication, and mass media, and digital media. And, just like other science, communication have theories too. And There is A LOT, as communication methods shift quickly. You name it: Agenda-Setting Theory, Uses & Gratification Theory, Media Dependency Theory, Cultivation Theory, Spiral of Silence Theory, Diffusion Innovation Theory, Social Learning Theory, Semiotics theory, and a lot more.

Do the courses offer that theories to learn? I doubt it :)

Rumor #3: So, You Are a Communication Student? You Must Talk A Lot!

If you are a communication student and you DO talk a lot, then you may stop reading. No offense, but I dedicated this to my fellow quiet and (maybe) introvert friends out there who happen to be a communication student.

As I have stated above, communication is not just about talking and PERFORMING. Many people assume that communication students must be active, extroverts, and love to be at the center of attention. But not all of them are like that, at least, I'm not.

Given all those theories, communication student must also be able to analyze and interpret data, gather information, and create & design communication materials. You may have seen the difference between a brainy comedians and not-so-brainy ones. So, I assume you must know that there is actually a lot of skills to acquire to communicate well, not just being able to speak and perform in front of the public. To be able to communicate well, one must think well, too. For those who have both skills, congratulations, you just strongly marked your title as communication students. But those who are more the thinker-type, they still have a lot of options to do, from being the behind the scenes and create concepts, to shifting to another career (like me!).

I am a shy and quiet ones, did an internship in a global PR agency, graduated from communication science major with excellent GPA, applied for PR analyst vacancy but was over-directed to HR field. And here I am, analyzing job value, doing productivity calculation and man power planning (In fact, one of my reasons to join as communication student, is because I do not want more maths in my life). In my previous experience, I was even "forced" to develop and improve macro tools and do some codings, yet I managed to get it done, despite all of the underestimation.
One of my superior at office once said, "I admire you because, despite you learn communication in your college, but you have your logic thinking, and able to do things that weren't taught at college."
I was sure, it was a compliment, until she smiled and said, "I am not sure though, if you will be able to have a career as a PR officer, I just could not imagine it." (I was like: whaattt? Beware ma'am, your words could be my motivation and my sweetest revenge ever, HA HA).

So, my point is: To my dear fellow quiet ones, don't be discouraged, because you know that being a communication student requires brain too, not just beauty.

Why I Start Blogging Again (and perhaps you should, too!)

I checked the last time I blogged, and it was nearly 2 years ago. What an irresponsible way to maintain your readers. Apologies for all the disruption and for all the time I wasted daydreaming and wandering, and not being able to spare my time to write it down. But, I promise I will try to update my blog, regularly and properly. More properly than before, because I will write, not just my random thoughts, but also some lessons learned from my past experiences and my daily live.

To start this habit and get committed, I am writing down WHY one should blog:

1. Free-writing is considered as a therapeutic movement beside poetry and letter (source: psychcentral.com)

"Writing is “speaking to another consciousness — ‘the reader’ or another part of the self. We come to know who we really are in the present moment, " said Elizabeth Sullivan, a licensed marriage and family therapist. 

Before I decided to start blogging, whenever I feel "heavy" and pressured, I talk to myself. Don't think I am creepy because self-talking can actually improve self esteem, your body image, and stress management, and also reduce depression and the risk of self-harm and suicide, if it's done positively (Read more: http://www.mindhealthconnect.org.au/self-talk).

But, when I look back on it, I realize there are lots of things that I have said, that can be useful for others, or even for me, one day. And, hey I have my own blog, an internet, and a healthy mind. So, why don't I update it on my blog? Even though, it is just as simple as writing down my middle-life confusion. 

If I just talk to myself, those thoughts, ideas, and opinions will disappear in time. I feel like writing helps me to convey my feelings to the world, things that I was not be able to say out loud. Hopes that I was afraid to have, and dreams that I was longing to do. 

And hey, the world is going digitalized. People can actually make money out of blogging. Who knows, I may have that opportunities too?

2. I write, therefore I exist

I once read that writing is a prove of our existence (I googled it and people say that it is a saying from Socrates). Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesian famous writer also said that, "You can get as clever as you can, but as long as you do not write, you will disappear off the society".

I am not the type of person who crave for existence recognition that bad, but that quote wakes me up. If I just keep my opinions and experiences up to myself, it will be useless. I want to give back to society by writing something useful, even though I will not be bothered if I have a very minimum number of readers. As I have stated in reason number one, at least my own free-writing will be useful for me. 

4. Writing As A Skill: Practice Makes Perfect

Writing is a very important you should acquire in workplace. From writing your CV to communicating effectively via emails & text messages, a good writing skill can distinguish you from your colleagues and buy you a career ladder (Read more at http://executivesecretary.com/why-good-writing-skills-are-important-in-todays-workplace-and-tips-for-developing-them/)

Sadly, I found that not many people have effective writing skills. Most of them, are better when it comes to explaining directly face-to-face, but lack the ability to write their thoughts in a form of a report or an analytical text.

So, practice makes perfect. By writing regularly in this blog, I hope it will improve my writing skill that I have ignored for quite a long time (it is quite ironic since I learnt communication science in university that included a lot of writing essays), and also my English skill. Forgive me, if I will mostly write it in English because somehow I convey my feelings more generously in English.

I can only think of that, but I hope it is enough to maintain my commitment in writing. As tomorrow is the start of a long public holiday, I'll see you tomorrow, then. Just one last quote before the night ends:

Anne Frank once said, "I can shake off everything as I write, my sorrow is disappear, my courage is reborn." Good night, and happy writing, peeps!