The Change

He: Hey, did you check Harmony ?
Me: Yes, I did.
He: So, did it change ?
Me: Yes, It did.
He: Congratulations (Hand shake)
Me: (Smiling, else what !)
He: Good, good ! (Slight Pause) Well, I am really very happy to hear that. Usually this process is not straight-forward. It's complex. There's CRR, then it involves a lot of recommendations, feedbacks, discussions on different parameters, then shortlisting, and then you come to a final list.
Me: (Nodding my head in affirmative)
He: I am very happy for you, you deserved it. This means your good work has been recognized. This not only means a change, it means more responsibility, you have to take up more tasks, but at the end of the day, make sure you always take back something.
Me: Yes, thanks a lot !
He: Hmm, okay carry on.
Me: Yeah, bye, thanks again !

That was my conversation with my manager, when my "role" changed and I got promoted. Although I expected this at the back of my mind, this was something that came as a pleasant surprise. And later, the usual rounds of hand shakes and mails. Man, it feels good when you know someone has acknowledged your effort and it comes as a 'pat' on the back. However, the words from my manager made me thinking. I am not usually into listening crap from other people, i.e. work-related, kind off those big-time fundas (you should do this, why you didn't do this...etc etc.), but somewhere I believed him this time.

In a real big organization like ours, where everyone is (almost) equally talented, it is a real daunting task to meet the growing expectations of everyone. But still, there are loopholes and in the big rush, lot of people don't get the recognition they really deserve. Especially, at the appropriate time. This fact however could be countered by companies by saying that performance earns better. Correct and understood, that there is complexity in the process and not everyone on the list could be counted in. There are financial perspectives, revenue limitations, and company norms which impose some restrictions in this process.

They try to keep the process as transparent as they could, and obviously they cannot turn it out into an open discussion amongst employees. It would be chaos then. The best that they could do is streamline the process, which already is but still it doesn't leave many people happy. The reasons and justifications are many. There's no end to this discussion. People crib (me included), and they will always do when it comes to appraisals. I sincerely do hope that the HR initiatives improve and there are better HR solutions for such situations. For the uninitiated, CRR mentioned above is something related to appraisals in our organization, referred to as Consolidated Relative Ranking.

But this time around, I really feel I've got something. Thanks to everyone who recommended me :)