CAPCO@HSBC NEWSLETTER
February 2016
2016 Objectives
With the New Year well underway, I’m sure people will be thinking about their objectives for 2016. Objective setting is important for a number of reasons, however many people fall short in setting themselves meaningful and suitable objectives. Common errors are making them too vague, not challenging enough, or even making them read like a to do list. I have always used the SMART acronym when setting my own objectives. An objective should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-related.
Let’s take the following example of a project and put the SMART acronym to good use. You are on a project producing regulatory packs for the front office each month. You come up with the objective “increase project performance in 2016 by completing a minimum of 10 regulatory packs per month with an error rate of 0%”. As you can see, this objective meets the SMART criteria whilst providing context around what you are working on improving; project performance in this case. One observation I have made time and time again is seeing people put together to-do lists rather than objectives. For example “Complete 10 regulatory packs every month” or “ensure no errors in the regulatory packs I produce each month”. Steer clear of doing this and ensure you provide context, whether it be domain knowledge, organisation or presenting skills.
Finally, what did the client highlight as a weakness when completing your feedback? Setting an objective on improving this shows people you have given your objectives some thought and are not just picking objectives you think you will achieve. My final piece of advice would be to do some research. Go online and read some papers on objective setting. Locke and Latham are two famous psychologists who have published a number of noteworthy papers on goal-setting. They identify a number of measures to consider in addition to the SMART framework.
By George Phillips
CAPCO@HSBC Townhall
IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO, PLEASE COMPLETE THE PEOPLES CHOICE AWARDS SURVEY.
All votes must be received by Wednesday 24th February at 5pm.
Thursday, Feb 25, 2016, 06:00 PM
Level 32, 40 Bank Street London E14 5NR
Brown Bag Sessions
We are currently seeing the financial services industry undergo dramatic change with new regulations (MiFID II, Volcker Rule, BCBS/IOSCO Margins and MAD2/MAR) shaping the future of the industry. Learning about these topics leads to a better understanding of the markets, its participants, products and so on.
With the HSBC account growing we are seeing an increase of Capco consultants working on the key projects outlined above. This year we will be driving more brown bag sessions focusing on these key projects.
By George Phillips
Upcoming Brown Bag Sessions
- Presentation Training - Tuesday 1st March 12:00 - 13:00
- Trade Lifecycle (Regs - Dodd Frank, EMIR, MiFID) - Friday 4th March 13:00 - 14:00
Health and Wellbeing
I thought for this month’s bulletin I would start by flipping the view of H&W. Whilst giving blood is a rewarding experience it’s also helping others. Here are a few stats for you:
- It is, quite simply, lifesaving both for people in an emergency but also for ongoing medical treatment. Based on 2014 numbers – 67% of donated blood was used to treat medical conditions such as anemia, cancer and blood disorders, 27% was used in surgery and 6% was used to treat blood loss in child birth.
- Blood can be broken down into its constituent components mainly the red blood cells, platelets (to help with blood clotting) and plasma (the fluid part of blood and carries the other blood components around the body)
The shelf life of donated blood is quite short. Plasma can be store for up to a year, red blood cells can last up to 35 days and platelets have a 7 day shelf life.
There are a number of locations in and around the Canary Wharf area where blood can be donated. This month there are 2 venues; the Marriot hotel in West India Quay and East Wintergarden (the garden area behind the Citi building). Hopefully, you’ll decide that you want to give blood (if nothing else you can get a cup of tea and some biscuits…).
By Matthew Isted
And finally, a big warm welcome to the following new joiners...
Samuel Day, Swee Khow, Kenneth Bollen, Shaun Matthews, Haluk Karacabey, Colin Wood, Aubry Fell, Cezar Coroblean, Alastair Barber, Corey Rainbow, Howard Taylor, Carles Suarez, Jacob Paul, Will Giles & Nafae Shaikh.
If you haven't done so already then please fill in the 'Introducing Blog' questions and send the answers to joanna.cauchi@capco.com. If you don't have a copy of the questions, then log onto CIT and you can find them in Paulo's 'on-boarding' pack.