Body Language: An Important Communication Tool

Body Language: An Important Communication Tool

(Adapted from an unknown source)

"The art of communication is the language of leadership."

Body language can make a big difference in your people skills, attractiveness and general mood. It is important for one to understand the etiquettes of using body language as it may be interpreted in several ways by the significant other.

Here are a few tips on how effective body language:

DO NOT CROSS YOUR ARMS

You must have read or heard earlier too that you should never cross your arms when at an interview or when communicating with seniors. Crossing arms are interpreted as being defensive or guarded. Keep your arms open.

HAVE EYE CONTACT, BUT DO NOT STARE

If you are among a group of people, you must try maintaining eye contact with them to create a better connection and see if they are listening. Staring or keeping too much of eye contact while communicating might creep people out. On the other hand, having no eye contact might make you seem insecure.

RELAX

When you feel tense it easily winds up as tension in your shoulders. They might move up and forward a bit. Try to relax. Try to loosen up by shaking the shoulders a bit and move them back slightly. Do not slouch, sit up straight. Lean but not too much. If you want to show that you are interested in what is being said and are confident in yourself, just relax and lean back a bit. But do not lean back much. It might give impression of being arrogant. Similarly, don’t lean in too much as it might give an impression of being needy or desperate. While standing, don’t stand too close. Give people their personal space.

NOD EVERY NOW AND THEN

Nod once in a while to signal that you are listening, but don't overdo it.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, SMILE AND LAUGH

Don't keep your eyes on the ground, it might make you seem insecure and a bit lost. Keep your head up straight and your eyes towards the horizon. Lighten up, don't take yourself too seriously. Relax a bit, smile and laugh when someone says something funny. People will be a lot more inclined to listen to you if you seem to be a positive person. But don't be the first to laugh at your own jokes, it makes you seem nervous and needy. Smile when you are introduced to someone but don't keep a smile plastered on your face, it will give impression of being insecure.

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR FIDGET

It might make you seem nervous and can be distracting for the listeners or the people in the conversation. Try to avoid showing nervousness such as shaking your leg or tapping your fingers against the table rapidly. You will seem nervous and fidgeting can be a distracting when you try to get something across. Try to relax, slow down and focus your movements. Use your hands more confidently instead. Use your hands to describe something or to add weight to a point you are trying to make. But don't use them too much or it might become distracting.

MIRROR THE IMAGE

Often when you get along with a person, when the two of you get a good connection, you will start to mirror each other unconsciously. To make the connection better you can try a bit of proactive mirroring. If he leans forward, you might lean forward. If he puts hands in pocket, you might do the same. But don't react instantly and don't mirror every change in body language. Keep a balance.

TRY MAINTAINING A GOOD ATTITUDE

Keep a positive, open and relaxed attitude. How you feel will come through in your body language and can make a major difference.

Take a couple of these body languages into consideration when communicating next time. You will definitely create a positive impact on others leading your way to a successful relation with them.

© The blogger is an independent writer and works with Aga Khan Development Network

The Roadmap to the Career of your Dreams...

The Roadmap to the Career of your Dreams

by Raza Abbas

If you could get 01 day or 01 month off from your routine life, what would you do with your time? Did you know that professionals excel when they combine attitude and skills with their personal passions. Sounds like luxury doesn’t it but why not just for a few minutes think about what your dream job is.  Start with yourself first. What do you like to do? What are you personally drawn to?

Based on my global and local experience there are 08 steps to achieve your career passion:

1. Identify your passion or what could be your passion- that’s your nucleus. List down one area that you really enjoy, even if you aren’t paid for it.

2. Identify the kinds of organizations that support your passion- those are your electrons. Aim for at least 05 organizations that cater to your interests.

3. Research what those kind of organizations do.  How do they function, who do they recruit?

4. Deliberate on each kind of organization which feels the best for you. Look at their values, mission statement, leadership team, annual reports, etc. 

5. Expand your existing social and professional network to find people that work in those organizations. If you don’t have one start building it: For example create a profile on Linkedin.com where 120 million professionals are on it! Start a blog, create your Facebook page, or launch your twitter profile. For those of you who are introverts this might seem like a daunting task, but don’t worry there are plenty of tutorials online. You can also get help from a career counselor.

6. When you find some of the people who are a part of these organizations, send them an email, a LinkedIn request or a Facebook message to find out about their reasons for choosing the organizations they are in. 

7. Set up informational interviews with the professionals you‘ve contacted. Make it clear to them that you are not asking for a job interview.

8. Start your job search after your informational interview, not before. Start drafting a plan on how you are going to work on your skills and tailor your expertise so that you can become an ideal candidate for the organization of your choice.

And with these eight steps Excellence begins!  People believe that once they are part of an organization, the passion for their work will just appear; often it’s the other way around. Follow your passion, even if it takes a while, never give up on the pursuit of your dream job. After life is too short for the wrong job.

About the Author: Mr. Raza Abbas, a dual degree graduate from The University of Arizona, USA and trained in Career Counseling from its Career Services Dept is a pioneer in the field of career counseling in Pakistan. This article was first published in the 12th Issue - Print Edition - of the TimeTrax HR Professionals NewsBeat in January 2012.

What does TimeTrax offer to the HR Manager?

Really, so What does TimeTrax offer to the HR Manager? 

A truly robust Human Capital Management Software solution, TimeTrax places tremendous power and precision in the hands of the HR department. From visibility into every action or transaction that an employee makes in the organization through the use of web-based eDashboard to granting each employee the flexibility and comfort of self-service for applying and viewing statuses of leaves, travel requests, expense approvals etc. through the use of smartphones and handheld devices. 

TimeTrax thus offers value to each individual in the organization individually and the HR department collectively; thereby improving its acceptance and ensuring a quick turnaround time coupled with a marked ROI.

TimeTrax achieves this feat by bringing the various HR functions under one unified web-based platform – from the basic monthly routine processes of Attendance/Leave/Travel/Payroll management to the periodic processes of Hiring/Documentation/Training/Separation management. The system goes on to provide the complex and highly strategic modules for Appraisal/Performance management and finally, the robust eDashboard for the senior management’s reporting needs.

Mr. Amir Shadmani, Plant HR Manager at Reckitt Benckiser states “We like it (TimeTrax) as a time keeping software, which reports in many different types with different formats & for gathering data of usual, time to time business requirements.”

Mr. Farhan Tariq Mir, Manager HR Planning at Wateen Telecom states “We are very pleased with the TimeTrax attendance system by EfroTech. It is a very useful tool, which is easy to use with good reports. Overall it is an excellent product.” 

Nearly 1,000+ business setups have taken benefit from the TimeTrax suite over the last 16 years. Taking note of which TimeTrax has been honored with the title of ‘Best Human Capital Management Software’ at 3rd Global HR Excellence Awards 2012 for its outstanding achievements and exceptional performance in IT industry, both within Pakistan and also in various countries where the solution is available through the company’s Reseller Network. 

This award is truly an acknowledgement of the revolutionary Human Resource Information System, powered by the dynamic team of software experts at EfroTech. Building on its specialization of delivering core BPS – Business Productivity Solutions – on the web-based and SAAS/ASP models, EfroTech is regarded as a major player in the HRIS/HCMS and Supply Chain Management solutions space in this region.

Mr. Syed Zamin Zafar, Senior Vice President – IT at Jubilee Life Insurance states: “It has been a pleasure working with Efrotech. We have good business relationship with Efrotech since the last 8 years. The TimeTrax of EfroTech is core application in NJI for the monitoring of attendance and maintaining the payroll of all employees with the network of 10 locations in Pakistan using more than 10 devices.”

Generic in its design, TimeTrax caters to the needs of Banks, Financial Institutions, Education, Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Distribution, Healthcare, Trading, Shipping, Logistics, Media And Communication Industry with Organization size ranging from 15 Employees at Radiant Chemicals to an organization of 8,000+ Employees at Coca cola Beverages Pakistan Limited.

Mr. Abaidullah Anwer (Manager Business Systems) at Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited sums up as follows: “TimeTrax is core application in CCBPL for the monitoring of attendance of all permanent employees and third party labor more than 8,000 employees with the network of 18 locations and sales centers in Pakistan using more than 38 devices.”

Biometrics-based identification and access control is what makes the system most accurate and dependable. Utilizing fingerprint recognition as the core identification method helps in solving the complex problem of ensuring foolproof security. Staff can get access through fingerprints, RFID Cards or via their ID & password – or a combination of all of these.

Mr. Amir Riaz, Senior Manager IT at Cupola Group (KFC Pakistan) states: ” TimeTrax is a user-friendly application running in Multi-user environment to capture attendance, leave management with multiple attendance input options like RFID, Biometric and passwords which integrated with the Attendance system.”

Management Reporting is offered through TimeTrax as a variety of helpful tools to reduce time spent on paperwork and increase visibility to workforce. The Manager’s Dashboard – eDashboard – provides a quick overview of their entire workforce each day highlighting the number of late arrivals, absences, time-cards pending approval and leave requests. The most likable feature about the system is the leave request function, their employees can go in, put in a leave request and it goes in to their manager automatically and can be approved. 

Previously, the managers used to get faxes and emails from any of their various locations in multiple cities on log sheets, which they would then have to enter manually.  Now they have gone from a labor intensive, inaccurate system to something that is not only much more accurate, but provides visibility to the data, in one window.

TimeTrax system calculates the time each individual has worked based on pay rules, record their arrival and departure, providing managers with detailed information about attendance records, absenteeism, overtime including holiday and leave pay. It has multi-currency and multi branch setup, Loan Transaction, loan deduction, gratuity, expense claim & reimbursement, Complete track of quarterly, half-yearly and yearly allowances, Monthly payroll, pay-slip, salary advice, tax statements, EOBI statements and provident fund can be computed easily through ePayroll. 

TimeTrax also offers eLeave, an easy to use workflow tool that simplifies the process flows of planning, applying and approving of leave(s). Employee Self-Service (ESS) feature empowers your employees and department heads to self-manage leave applications and approval flow anywhere, anytime, through any browser and even on handhelds through mobile app.Employee’s Electronic Travel Manager through eTravel is a step forward in that direction which allows functional heads to manage and control their travel budgets with a click of a button, without introducing too many documents/formalities in the process. It has widely been appreciated and embraced by the organization due to its flexibility and user-friendly interface.

Shifa Ibrahim, Global HR Projects Manager, Global HR Business Partner Finance, IM & Marketing at AkzoNobel Powder Coatings states: “A truly Generic solution, eTravel is a lifesaver! Saving at least 10% of the time for HR, Admin and Finance personnel – even Line Managers – due to its comprehensive features which cover the whole Leave and Travel authorization cycle in almost every single industry vertical. Strongly recommended that HR professionals look into this intuitive solution and save valuable process time."

Not only a travel workflow tool that manages authorizations and monitors travel costs, it also acts as a link between the organization and the travel agents; maintains the travel calendar of the employees and the organization; keeps a track of the expenses and acts as the employees’ travel manager. It manages the Travel Workflow and Authorizations, shares information electronically with travel agents, tracks travel costs, and the corporate Travel Calendar is available online to promote effective collaboration.

EfroTech is now a global software solutions supplier for numerous Fortune 500 companies, providing services in Afghanistan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Oman, UAE covering ASEAN, Central & South Africa through its resellers and further has its software deployments in India, MENA, Europe and Latin America. The footprint is growing further at a tremendous pace.

Elizabeth Von Atzigen, Director HR at Sheraton Hotel states: “It has been a wonderful experience working with EfroTech. The focus and determination of EfroTech’s team is there, the solution provided by EfroTech is timely and suitable. They are available, with their expertise, whenever the need arises. EfroTech has proven our decision of selecting their services profitable by adding real value to business.”

In all, TimeTrax is able to deliver for the entire needs of any organization – from the CEO to the HR Manager to every single employee in the organization. Rightly thus TimeTrax is termed as ‘The Best Investment for your Human Capital’.

Including Home-Grown Technology in the (Graduate & Post-Graduate) University Curriculum

The average – and not so average – institute around the globe would have the likes of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft applications, besides others, as part of the curriculum for Human Resource, Enterprise Resource Planning and Supply Chain disciplines to help students better understand the business processes in light of the software applications that are helping millions of organizations across the globe manage and monitor their processes.

This is an excellent step – equipping the students with the practical tools while exposing them to the theories and principals that have been kept in mind while developing these very applications. The flexibility these solutions offer the organizations is tremendous and are so generic in nature that an organization of virtually any size, maturity and industry can – almost always – customize them to their specific needs.

While the utility of inclusion of off-the-shelf software as part of curriculum has been in practice for decades and as such cannot be questioned for it truly has delivered a platform for fresh graduates to be recognized by their prospective employers as having a highly useful skill, the question does arrive though; ‘Why pay millions for licensing of expensive software, when just as good locally developed software solutions/products are available in the market?’. The question was posed to lecturers and professors at some of the leading universities in Pakistan and the response though skewed in favor of the original premise, was varied and some snippets are reproduced here:

The For:

"In an increasingly diversified and challenging business landscape, technology is playing vital role be it research, business positioning and promotion, corporate-academia linkages, distant learning programs etc.

IT market and more specifically customized solution providers in Pakistan have established themselves amongst the global giants. It is therefore expensive and unnecessary to buy off-the-shelf, orthodox solution from international sellers rather it is imperative that local solution providers who have grip over the challenges and can meet customization requirements of the institutions, with all global standards justified, are far better. Additionally software accommodations are easier and one on one interaction enhances the chance of continuous improvement. Hence it’s mutually beneficial to acquire systems and software solutions (like TimeTrax HCMS) domestically if available."

And…

“Any automation/system implementation process needs to match the organisation culture, the indigenous business practices of the industry and process maturity of the implementing organisation. In the end system implementation should prove its worth in terms of the benefits it provides to catapult the organisation/workflow to the next level. The advantage of using localized/customized software (like BizzTrax ERP) over imported systems is that it is easier to customize to local demands and culture and so from a change management perspective- easier to gain acceptability. When one implements imported software, the software is built on assumptions of foreign regulations and culture. International software implementations fail in local environment because their systems pre-assumptions do not match local expectations and hence implementing the system workflow becomes difficult and often is shelved.”

The Against:

“The role of universities has changed in today’s age of information revolution. It is no longer transfer of knowledge from old professors to the young generation. Universities today must produce entrepreneurs and nurture creativity. Training them to use software that someone else has produced limits their potential. The students must be taught to create new software and found new software enterprises that can compete with the best in the world and consequently add to the national growth.”

The Conclusion (if you will):

While conflicting views would exist to any issue, it would be important to register the idea behind introduction either of the two solution sets into the curriculum and the underlying objective:

As part of the MIS curriculum to help students build an understanding of Information Systems. As part of the HR curriculum to give students exposure of an HRIS/HCMS application for performing operations, defining workflows and affects of various available policy options in their industry. As part of the Supply Chain curriculum to give students hands-on exposure of how demand planning translates into the production plan through BOM explosion and also how secondary sales visibility assists with procurement planning, and so on.


Note: The brand-names SAP, TimeTrax, Microsoft, BizzTrax and Oracle are registered trademarks of their respective organizations.