Shawn Crasta
Vice President Human Resources at Ati Motors
I am a seasoned Management professional with around 20 years of diverse experience in industries such as Manufacturing, Automotive, Aerospace, Energy, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Chemicals,...
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- Transformative HR Strategies: Enhancing organizational culture for success
- Talent Assessment Techniques: Streamlining candidate evaluation and selection
- Employer Branding Essentials: Attracting and retaining top-tier talent
- Leadership Development Programs: Cultivating effective leaders within organizations
- Performance Management Systems: Driving accountability and improved employee performance
Meet the mentor
blog articles
Tricky Workplace Situation Handled
- Integrity, Authenticity, Empathy, Transparency, Humility, Drive for excellence, Never give up attitude, Taking people along, Confidence, Respect for all, Passion, Trust, Resilience, Adaptability, Dedication, Vision.
- If one doesn't abide by their values, nothing is in place. Values is what drives us. If one doesn't abide by their values, they will end up doing things they are uncomfortable with, which will keep haunting them. It could impact their credibility. It could create a negative perception of that person. It could lead to doing things immoral, unethical and/or criminal. It is a very dangerous area to get into.
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- If I were to help someone identify their values, I would do the following exercise with them Q1. What are the most important things in your life? Q2. Over the last 3-4 months what has been important to you? Make 2 columns - Value & Rank Q3. What is a feeling or emotion you would do almost anything to avoid having to feel? Make 2 Columns - Negative Value & Rank Q4. What has to happen for you to feel... Positive Value 1... Positive Value 2 and so on; Negative Value 1... Negative Value 2 and so on... Q5. What rules would you like to have in place for Positive Value 1... Positive Value 2 and so on; Negative Value 1... Negative Value 2 and so on...
- It is about giving freedom to team members to perform. Once a task is assigned, the leader stays out of the way and only helps when needed. It inspires an entrepreneurial spirit with a clear goal / vision in team members
- Yes, a previous boss was a leader who gave freedom. The good thing was that I was given complete freedom to execute my projects. We had scheduled reviews during which he would review project progress, client feedback and profitability. The flipside was reviews took long time since he was completely hands -off and had to be explained in detail
- Pros are that employees are given complete freedom to work; they have complete control. It encourages an entrepreneurial spirit. This is good when you have tremendous expertise and a team of highly experienced people. This doesn't work if team members need guidance and supervision which can result in poor quality, and lack of control on a project
- I'm an advocate of this approach. It works well in Consulting since each team member brings in his/her expertise and is aligned to the overall vision. They know what is expected of them and they deliver to that
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- I would encourage the mentee to take baby steps in implementing this approach. I would ask them to try it with the best team member they have - one that has deep expertise and is a good and consistent performer. Once he/she gets a hang of this approach, then he/she can implement this approach with other members in the team.
- I completely agree with Corin Birchall. It is imperative that one focuses on conversion rate. It is a smart way of increasing sales, and much more economically that gets customers to walk in. So, it is imperative that you do all that it takes to encourage impulse purchases. Having said that it is important to have a strategy to get customers to walk into your stores.
- A hassle-free return policy increases customer satisfaction. It gives the customer the sense that you care for him/her, which in turn will increase their loyalty. A loyal customer spreads the good word and thereby gets the business new customers
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- Ensure that excess merchandise is kept away in stores Have multiple cash counters, have self-check outs, and mobile pay payments Ensure that rostering is done right thereby ensuring adequate staff during peak hours Employee training is key to customer satisfaction; train them right and also give them decision making authority to do right to the customer Have water coolers at key locations in the store, especially in summers
- Ensure that excess merchandise is kept away in stores. Have multiple cash counters, have self-check outs, and mobile pay payments. Ensure that rostering is done right thereby ensuring adequate staff during peak hours. Employee training is key to customer satisfaction; train them right and also give them decision making authority to do right to the customer. Have water coolers at key locations in the store, especially in summers.
- My advice would be to focus on the customer. Understand the end-to-end journey of a customer and create WoW moments for that at every step in their journey.
- It is imperative that one defines what overqualified is. Is it a nice way of saying I can't afford you; or is it because the candidate actually has much more experience or educational qualifications than that required for a particular role? Second, one always assumes that overqualified candidate expects more money, but that is not always true. An overqualified candidate may be more focused on his/her mission over money or may want to do something different or niche. Think about how would they fit in culturally in your organization and how you can leverage their strengths before rejecting them.
- 1. Cost 2. Culture fit 3. Motivation for taking up the role 4. Synergy with other 5. Retention
- A company can leverage their strengths - they can help accelerate growth, transform processes, lead the company to the next orbit, help achieve a new breakthrough, help create a performance culture in the organisation
- It depends on the context and situation. One needs to weigh the pros and cons before taking this decision
- I was hiring a CTO for a start-up. The candidate was overqualified from the perspective of money, and experience. While money was not a factor for rejection, as we were a well-funded org., he was rejected because we felt that he would not fit in culturally. We were a young startup with an average age of 28, but the candidate in question was in his mid 40s. We also realized that there was big gap in thinking and values between him and the key stakeholders. Hence, he was rejected. We could have leveraged on his strengths - tech knowledge, industry expertise, his experience of growing an org. from scratch.
- I would ask him to weigh the pros and cons; assess whether he/she is the right fit technically, culturally and whether they align with him
