One of the perks of being an HR from TISS (Tissian) is that you get to experience at least 4 Organisations as a Fieldwork Intern. Besides getting technical know-how of Human Resource Management (HRM), Fieldwork is also an interesting case-study of Human Behavior. We are taught Organizational Behavior in detail across the 4 Semesters and if you ask me that is the most interesting part of being an HR student. So welcome to the curious case of the dieting HR fraternity.
Today is the birthday of one of the HR ladies and we have a cake cutting session. The cake is big but the contenders are unwilling. “I had my share of sweetness, sugar!” they say and instead of eating/feeding cake, they hug her. Welcome to the diet conscious HR fraternity who manage their diet despite working in a leading company.
We are faced with many dualities in life which ultimately lead to Cognitive Dissonance but nothing like those the HR face in a leading Snacks Corporation. I mean publicly you have to promote chocolates, Biscuits, toffees even if you personally follow a Gluten free diet. It’s not good to eavesdrop on your Mentor, but I really can’t help it when she is sitting right next to me instructing her maid the recipe of Beetroot soup.
The woman sitting next to me who is otherwise a part of Talent Management is nowadays more concerned about weight management. She eats boiled cabbage and is often seen explaining the 70-20-10 model to weight management. Yes, you read that right 70% of your daily intake should be taken before 12 pm and essentially as a part of your Breakfast. From 12 to 5 pm take up a lighter meal which should be 20% of your intake and the rest 10 % should be eaten before 7 pm (i.e. before your digestion becomes sluggish).I am so impressed by this woman’s ability to practically implement HR Jargons to non-related field. And people say HR is no longer necessary or relevant. If something is true, it’s the opposite.
As a former Dentist, I have much to thank these MNCs which ensure a continuous flow of patients to my fellow ex- fraternity. I haven’t seen one fat lady in this office (Alright there are 2, but I am an Intern and the other one is on a contract basis). Most of them are frequently sipping green tea and if you ask me that tantamount to the betrayal of the company they work for. Though they promote the newly launched calorie-rich products, you will never see them popping it in their mouths. Looking at the anti-cavity awareness that goes on various media, I wonder if they might be loading their kids with all the complimentary samples they receive frequently.
I might not know much about HR or even about myself, but I definitely know that Dieting is just not my cup of tea. Nor is a cup of green tea. It has just occurred to me that there are only two people who eat from the jar of cream biscuits in the lounge; a super fat guy at the other end of the office and me of course. I thought maybe people are fed up with them but the second week into this office I know that real strategy is to look good while performing better. With a surge in the aesthetic realm, HR can’t afford to stay behind. There have been enough articles on how important HR is when it comes to management by being a support function just as a housewife is to the house (!?!). Realizing that People don’t take fat wives (or fat HR) seriously (except if you are a rich big-shot) I jot down my strategy for weight reduction:
Learn Strategic “Lean” Management from the HR
· The weight loss goal should be SMART i.e. Simple, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic and Time-bound. So I googled “Diet” and got a list of numerous Diets I can choose from. I also got to know that the word “Diet” comes from Old French “diete” and Medieval Latin “dieta” meaning a “daily food allowance”. The “die” in the Diet has never appealed to me but hey, aren’t the corporate allowances decided by the HR?
· Your competency to lose weight depends on your skill sets namely CDWH (Consistency, discipline, will and hard work).
· Then you take a 360-degree feedback from people and inanimate objects. Some people disguise their utter horror under compliments like “looks like the weather is suiting you!” whereas your favorite 10-year-old pants convey it to you subtly that you no longer fit in.
· The journey to weight loss can be a Single looped or Double loop…..the difference between them is as follows:
1.
Single loop: You get motivated to lose weight only when someone nudges you.
2.
Double loop: When you actively maintain your weight and monitor every bite you eat.
· Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a change management approach that focuses on identifying what is working well, analyzing why it is working well and then doing more of it. The basic tenet of AI is that an organisation will grow (or not grow fat) in whichever direction that people in the organisation focus their attention to.
Enough of warming up my desk (laptop does it quite literally) and off to the daily grind.
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About the Author:
Anuya Thorat is a Second year Student of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is a Dentist by Training and an HR professional by sheer luck. She enjoys singing while cooking. And yes she does cook up a lot of things, everything except Tarot.