Goldman Sachs ‘defines’ a catch-up as the informal periodic review of the employee with his/her manager. The word “periodic” is not defined, hence catch-ups can be weekly, and at times, even daily! To clarify, a catch-up is not similar to one of those parent-teacher school reviews you are part of, nor is it a performance review. There are certain tips listed below which help you make the most of your catch-up; and even keep you away from troubled waters. The below tips are tested for its effectiveness personally by me, and believe me, (if followed) they work!

1.       Take notes: When called for a catch-up, always carry a notebook and a pen with you. Take notes from the interactions with your manager. Imagine, you are advising someone on performance improvement and you simply sit there. That’s the way any manager would feel.
2.       Ask questions: A catch-up is an interaction between a manager/peer with an employee. It is not a lecture. Ask questions! (like what?) Ask about your performance levels, your flaws, your strengths, areas of improvement, opportunities of showcasing your finesse, to list a few. By asking questions like these, you make the manager feel (rightly) that you are interested to grow and perform. The manager will be glad to help you improve, because if you improve; your performances improve.
3.       Implement managers’ advice(s): when during a catch-up, the manager always gives you some advice with respect to your skills, team work, performance, etc. Implement them in your daily work. There may be times when you feel that the advice won’t work in your case. Implement it anyway and see the results for yourself. If the advice is doing you more harm than good, inform your manager with pertinent instances about it and he/she will help you an other way.
4.       Share results:Catch-Ups are the best time to share results with your manager. It is given that the manager is not oblivious of your results and achievements. He/she knows about you more than you do (in terms of your job). Sharing your results with your manager will make him/her realize that you are conscious of your performances and are positive towards your job. There may be cases where you have some misconceptions (towards your performances) due to which you over-rate or under-rate yourself. The manager, in such cases, will help you see clearly where you really stand.
5.       Talk about expectations:Catch-ups are not only for complaints, reprimands, congratulations and accolades. Utilize this time by understanding your manager’s expectations of you as an employee, as a team player. Ask him/her directly about it.

This will clear any mis-communication present. That is, there may be cases when a manager over-expects, due to which you always get to hear “you can do more”, “I expected more from you”, “that’s it?! That’s all you could do?”. In such cases, clarifying helps. By talking about expectations, you understand his/her expectations of you, and the manager will understand what (and how much) to expect from you.

Following these tips renders you to utilize this time super-effectively! Happy 1st[or nth] job! Happy Catch-Up!

It is official. Raghuram Govind Rajan, currently the Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry, is appointed the Goevrnor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and will take over from D. Subbarao who demits office on September 4, 2013.
Raghura Rajan, an alumnus of IIT (Delhi) and IIM (Ahemdabad), completed his doctorate in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also Economic Advisor to the PM of India in an honorary position, and is one of the few young Indian Economists to have correctly predicted the 2008 recession as early as in 2005. He is by far one of the youngest governors appointed. That said, let’s stand on our toes and see what challenges lie ahead for this predictor.

1.High Consumer Price Inflation (CPI):

A measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care; consumer price inflation is also termed as ‘headline inflation’. Basically; high prices of CPI index indicates periods of inflation and vice-versa.  The CPI index in 2008 was 8.32% and the same in 2012 was 9.30%. In 2013, CPI index is growing at a projected 11.21%.

2.Free-fall of Indian Rupee:

On August 6, 2013, the Indian Rupee nosedived and fell to a record low of 61.80/USD. The value of rupee has fallen by over approx. 202.43 per cent since 1990. Constant depreciation of Indian Rupee against US Dollar has and will impact the prices of imported goods, the fuel prices (there goes the petrol price up again!), tourism industry among others. Also, in a bid to control rupee’s depreciation, RBI intervenes through public sector banks via its monetory policies. If the depreciation in rupee continues, it will further increase inflation. In such a situation RBI will have very less room to cut policy rates. No cut in policy rate will add to the borrower’s woes who are eagerly waiting to get rid of the high loan regime.

3.Widening Current account Deficit (CAD):

A CAD occurs when a country’s total imports of goods, services and transfers is greater than the country’s total export of goods, services and transfers. This situation makes a country a net debtor to the rest of the world. The major contributor of CAD is the high imports of crude oils and gold (understand why GoI is restricting gold imports?).The high current account deficits stemming from imports which do not contribute to economic growth but only are necessary to meet the demands of domestic consumption coupled with a GDP which is not growing fast enough, has put the economy on a spot. Some of the effects of sustained CAD are currency depreciation, inflation, reduction of credit rating of the country affecting foreign investment (which again will reduce the foreign investment in India).
Above were a few challenges mentioned. We can realize that these challenges are inter-related and controlling one would not do. It will be interesting to look how Raghuram Rajan is able to tackle these issues with serendipity.