Change, is not easy!

A large part of my professional career in corporate India has revolved around bringing about organisational change, different organisations gave it different titles, some fancier than the others, stacked initiatives differently within the organisational maze but the expectation has more or less remained unchanged in last 16 years - simply put, 'make it better'. The 'it' has been a variety of things to a diversity of people in a wild medley of circumstances. I've written about my experiences with bringing about transformation in many articles (26 write-ups in the last 10 years). Every time, I revisit the topic though, I find that my understanding has differed from my previous chronicles of it; I can't say for the better or not, I would let you be the judge of that. But it has not remained the same.

It is rather easy, some would even say commonsensical to believe that bringing about change is about coming up with a winning and a powerful idea, one which is better than prevalent practice in every conceivable way and then going on with it. After all what else can one need to drive organisational evolution? I used to hold this belief close to my chest too before I began my journey 1.6 decades ago. I could not have been any further from the truth, though.

You'll grow old listening to how dearly people want 'reform', vociferous support for the cause will fall from the skies before you can say the word 'TOM', and yet CHANGE does not happen, as smoothly. Private opposition comes from the very constituents that renders lip service to it in public. The dichotomy that surrounds transformation is fascinating, it is paradox of all paradoxes. Martyrs are respected, celebrated and idolised and yet no one wants their own kin to become one - such is the story of change. People support an idea as long as it does not demand a personal investment of time, effort or money, especially a change that is seen as taking the game away from those who enjoy control. It is fought with tooth and nails. Organisations pride themselves on the value that they generate, remember a unit keeps running only as long as it keeps making those who have invested in it, richer than they were before and therefore it is not a love affair that one can keep running despite occasional heartburns. The whole world knows the story of "Kodak", "Nokia" and "BlackBerry" and yet, change is resisted.

One wonders why?

People make societies and very people like you and I make organisations too. Our strengths play out just as much as our insecurities do; in that sense, the profile of an organisation is a collective characterisation of the people it employees, nothing more and nothing less.

I'd like to summarise my tryst with a change in two categories :

1) Change capital

2) Change capability

- [] Collective Intent of the controlling vote of the board.

- [] Business urgency.

- [] Long-term commitment.

- [] Innate desire of the chair.

Intellect and thoughtfulness of the leadership team

1. Knowing what to change; the core idea itself; requires thoughtful consideration, deep intellectual exploration and creative thinking.

2. Saving the idea from atrophy of inaction requires budgetary allocation and muscle for execution.

Both of these can only come from the top. People at the bottom of the pyramid no matter how engaged, skilful or well-meaning lack organisational control and influence needed to bring about large scale change.

Collective Intent of the controlling vote of the board.

Business Urgency

Long term commitment

The innate desire of the chair

- [ ] Communication

- [ ] Planning

- [ ] Execution

- [ ] Transition

- [ ] Course correction

- [ ] Realisation

- [ ] Closure

Selection of Idea

Communication

Planning

Execution

Transition

Course Correction

Closure

(Disclosure: The diagrams are from IJRTE Research paper)

I see below 5 elements as essential, non-negotiable building blocks of what I call the 'change capital'. Without these in place, making any alternation is impossible. So if you find yourself in a setting wanting of any of these, you got to take a pause, first work on priming the situation.

- [] Intellect and thoughtfulness of the leadership team.

Let's go over them one by one.

Two questions come out undeviatingly from the label, 1 - Intellect and 2- leadership team; one might ask why these two? To pull a large change, one that has transformative potential and organisation-wide reach - the most fundamental prerequisites are:

Bringing about real revolution is a lot more than romanticising with the idea of change. All transformative endeavours are daunting in nature, necessitating constant reinforcement. It is a long drawn process, it may start with a directive but can't be carried through without substantial investment in bringing the culture of the unit up to it. Cultural shifts are unlikely to bring about unless intentionality is displayed and demonstratively pushed and practised by those at the top. The inertia of the organisation, the old normal works against it with every fibre of its body.

Owners of the P&L unknowingly train their senses to smell and see monitory gains in the short term with a great degree of clarity and objectivity, everything else is just dressing not the main dish. Not every change, pays returns back on the day of commencement, benefits of some initiatives are only realised in the long term and that steals the thunder away from the hustle that change brings with itself. Attention is often diverted to what is considered both urgent and important for carrying the day out. 'Cause of the change' becomes the casualty, here.

A tenant can't be expected to worry about the structural integrity supporting the longevity of the property that he or she occupies, for them it is just not relevant, as their needs are momentary, at best. Contemporary calls are always dearer to the leaser. Change management bears uncanny similarity if leaders do not have long term commitment with the business they would not care enough to have it transformed, into anything better. The incentive of implementing change is understandably just not stimulating enough.

How badly do you want to win? If you want it for real, you bring it to the fore, at the top of the agenda. Otherwise, you naturally keep shifting "the need for transformation' to the future. Do those who hold the key to the business want to change, is the critical question? This issue is less organisational and more personal. Before it is answered the leaders must drift on an introspective journey. The process is taxing, long term and one ridden with conflicts so unless the desire is ironclad, there is no way to make the change for the better happen.

Let's assume you have all the key ingredients in place; congratulations you are halfway through. To bring about an effective change you'll still need a few more things.

With it, I come to the 2nd item - Change Capability

This is a more functional part of the problem, the list below captures it comprehensively.

- [ ] Selection of Idea

Let's look at them one after the other as well.

We're often tempted to ape what others are doing, following the fad is a thing not only in fashion, it creeps silently into the strategy vault as well. You need to know to guard against it. I resort to the process of rejection, list down all the possible ideas for a given situation and then start crossing bad or weak ones out to arrive at the top three or two. Check for its alignment with the larger business objectives. You do not have to work overtime to make the idea sound bold or come out as courageous, it does not have to be. The design needs to appreciate the current business landscape and should have plans for the future at heart. Alignment with the business goal is a must. Every scheme also has the responsibility of proving how it will improve/changes the offering against its competition in the market. As long as these criteria are met, you'll be good.

It often becomes more important than the idea itself. Remember, for your idea to win, it will need the backing of the decision-maker and also nod from those who are going to be directly impacted by it. When you craft the communication plan don't ever forget that your audience is unaware of the background work, the research and the rigorous process of rejection that you've followed to arrive at the final point, which you think carries the cause well- so keep the presentation of the idea suitably descriptive. Always know the taste of your audience, no point placing Arundhati Roy to someone who has been brought up with Chetan Bhagat; dumb the exhibition down if you must or regulate it a few notches up depending upon the unique requirement of the house that you are going to subject your presentation to. Be a moderator, in the conversation. Being good at language pays in ways more than one, you'll know when you present your idea.

The devil lies in the detail, break the steps down to their most granular form, never mind, if a plan that could have got made in 20 rows gets extended to 2000, the more the better. But remember 'more' and not 'more of the same' is being advised here. You do not have to fall into the trap of repeating what has already been said to make the plan look magnificent. A good plan is not an enthusiastic but realistic one. It should account for buffers, count in all the possibilities and the things that could go wrong. Delay is not good news nor is taking too long, balance is the key. Another key objective of a plan is to make stakeholders aware of the contribution that they need to make to infuse life into the idea. Be clear and be firm in the detailing.

I on purpose did not call it project management but execution. As the leader of change, you have to have your skin in the game. You can't be enacting high almighty who only presents himself to review and to point out what is not right, you also have to shoulder the obligation of making what is wrong, right. The most critical items are best co-owned. Integrity is vital, in the execution phase you must keep the sponsorer of the change duly informed of the progress that is being made. They deserve to know the real reason, not the sweetened one. Tell the truth, call out the slacks, if and when they present themselves. Remember, your primary responsibility is to drive the action as planned to the closure.

Agents of change are seen as thieves of comforts, they are hated because people think that they wish to make the lives of the people who are outside of the change management process (ideation) difficult on purpose. Many times, change exposes the truth, in the most uncomfortable, dispassionate and indiscriminate manner which people fear and therefore detest. Protecting the turf is a primal instinct, therefore change is seen as a possible loss. In an odd situation, the anxiety of change also encourages people to work against it. These anomalies must be identified and flagged appropriately within the organisation.

Not all plans work, and there is no harm in accepting when they do not. A common mistake that change leaders make is that they get so invested in the idea that they operate unreasonably to make sometimes even a failed idea work because they simply do not have it in them to concede - "I got it wrong". Getting it wrong is not as bad as pretending that all is well when it is not. Not only it is unethical but it also does the organisation immense impairment by discouraging people from trusting future initiatives. Such conduct discredits the process of change. When things don't work, admit it, go back to the drawing board and try again.

Declaring war is just as important as announcing peace. When the project does draw to a close, communicate so effectively and efficiently. Give an honest account of how true has the endeavour been to the planning that was done. How much of what was promised has been achieved? Go thread bear. After the announcement has been completed, make people aware of the changes that they will have to bring in their routine, aid adoption. Make plans for training those influenced both directly and indirectly. When it comes to letting people know, doing it a little more than needed won't harm nearly as much as not communicating enough.

At this point, you must have thought why haven't I confronted the elephant in the room - "Corporate Politics"; well simply because it is ubiquitous. It exists before the idea of change, while the idea is being given flesh and blood and also after the completion. If the inherent culture of the organisation has the antidote, it won't matter and if the culture lacks the intelligence then the organisation won't be able to embark on any serious change anyway; so I have omitted it.

Know that life of a change agent is not an easy one, it is full of confrontation, pugnacity, strifes, failures and discouragement - when you sign up for it tell yourself that you'd not let the trivialities swamp you down.

ये इश्क़ नहीं आसाँ इतना ही समझ लीजे

इक आग का दरिया है और डूब के जाना है

(जिगर मुरादाबादी)

With that let me end this, GO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN!

Outsourcing 2.0, the future!

It is impossible to attempt predicting the future without taking history into account; the posterior view of linear time. The history of outsourcing is intensely integrated into the history of the growth of the modern business enterprise, many believe that it rose in the second half of the 19th Century. Historians and economists in the past fifty years have helped us to understand this sudden and prominent phenomenon of growth, one such legend is Mr. Alfred D. Chandler, do read his work. Much has been said regarding outsourcing in the past couple of years. This business practice has suddenly grabbed center stage attention and is now the focus of politicians, the press, companies, and workers alike. Organizations in the outsourcing space are also constantly applying thought to understand how should they reinvent themselves to remain relevant, as they face their toughest challenge in the present era. A business that found its existing space between the value difference of a rupee and a dollar (speaking strictly in the Indian context) initially and in not too much time became a darling even on a transaction that was between the same currency, faces an existential challenge now. The rationale for the rupee to rupee transaction came from the differentiation of core and non-core tasks for an organization. Offshoring, mainly from stronger currencies to the weaker ones flourished for the first decade, almost fanatically. India gained immensely from this fad that was catching up. IT and ITES provided employment to over 3 hundred thousand people, major businesses,  houses came into being: Wipro, Infosys, Concentrix, HCL, Tech Mahindra, and many others. Companies in the western world saw value in saving money and at the same time dealing with a race that was hardworking, ambitious, hungry for growth, and also particularly skilled for doing the job just right.

The growth and meaning of outsourcing are increasingly getting flatlined; cost pressures are driving the value down, from the perspective of the service providers. The political scene around the world is not helping either, mass protests in favor of keeping the jobs onshore have become common. Major political events in the recent past have revolved around it, the rise of President Trump, the ill effects of Brexit; the mounting of obscurantists and protectionists ideologies around the world have hurt the prospects of the thriving outsourcing industry in our country. Both IT and ITES have suffered immensely, we do not see too many new players making a move. But thankfully, all is not lost. India is growing, one could argue that it could have grown faster had a few things not happened, but then those are hypothetical arguments; we remain among the fastest-growing economies in the world. A new breed of entrepreneurs have come into the fray and are solving real issues interestingly applying technologies that are now available at a much cheaper cost, than it would have been let's say a decade ago. The eco-system is ready. Would Ola or Flipkart have become such spectacular successes in 1980ties in India? The answer to that question is a clear no. Now is the time for it and it is a great thing to happen to us as a country, society, and also the economy.

If the political climate was unfavorable and stunting the growth of outsourcing agencies vigorously, the advent of technology: penetration of internet, the rise of automation, AI and ML are together making it almost impossible for small players to exist. Jobs that required humans back then are being done in a few taps a lot more satisfyingly and swiftly. ITES providers are dying a slow death, many are bleeding profusely with no real sight of a breakeven, let alone profit and prosperity. Many renowned businesses have done away with their domestic business or are in the process of walking out, Sutherland &  Mphasis are classic examples. More than 40% of small and medium domestic BPOs had to shut shop, in the last 6 yrs. The scene is not all that good for those who aren’t comfortable with being on their toes all the time, either. There are organizations like Aegis, Karvy DigiKonnect, connectQ, 1point1, Megus, etc who are trying to walk in the opposite direction of the wind and have created for themselves results that are not bad, if not all that encouraging, in all the quarters of the year. But there is hope. And that is exactly what we are trying to discuss here.

A workforce that began with handling transactions on prescribed SOPs have in these years become rich in experience and now have valuable insight into how various businesses are conducted, not only have they mastered their game of efficiency but have also educated and trained themselves on the craft to a degree that they now carry invaluable perspicacity into the world of the consumers and deep understanding of the technology that makes the customer experience come about. Cross-pollination of talent has graduated the industry into a formidable group, one that is capable of rewriting the rules of the game. This development is part evolutionary and part forced and therefore, not easy for everyone to get to.



The time has come for the outsourcing industry to shed its dead weight of unskilled manpower, onboard forward thinkers, and retain only high performers; the average and the below-average must go. This industry has to prepare itself to walk out of the shadow of the transaction and shine in the light of experience. It is apt for the service providers to fight for increasing their share of influence, the only way for them to exist is if they muster the courage to secure a seat at the thought leadership table. A transition from a low value, labor-based output to a high-value intellect based outcome will have to be made. Service providers will have to become providers of knowledge and acumen and not just efficiency.



Doing the job, quicker, better, and at low cost is no longer lucrative, there is a need to invent ways to do them differently, trying different business solutions. The construct of the ‘different’ is in making the delivery consultative, one in which the providers do not only bring manpower but also industry acumen, knowledge of framing service philosophies, the capability of defining experience, designing its machinery, and then delivering results which are second to none. Technology is here to stay, providers will have to befriend the trend, work towards creating the capabilities of automation in-house, start offering a data first, and voice second service offering. The conventional mode of isolated support on voice, data, and chat channels will have to be united into an omnichannel environment, flexible enough to extend the customers the choice to choose: voice or text, self-help or assisted guidance, with solid CRM integration, one that is capable of building context and providing for predictive customer behavior. Service providers will have to become solution architects. The change will have to be welcomed into the organization and the way of its inner working. If I may borrow from Robin Sharma;



All change is tough at the beginning, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.



Here are a few things that service providers should do to transform.



De-age your leadership team - All of those 25 to 30 yrs + experience folks are good, they bring a lot of value but if they are made in charge of driving transformation, it wouldn't come about just as swiftly or effectively. You need to bring in a fresh perspective, bright and young people with the required skillset to populate your leadership team. Studies have shown that after a certain age and getting certain success in life the fire in the belly goes off for 98% of the people and that alone is a reason for you to look at your leadership team to see if you have such satisfied people around? If so, it's time for you to get people who relate to the change and have a better handle on contemporary settings and above all are willing to walk that extra mile and have the desire and the determination to make their mark.

Alter your service offering - Your service offering has to be a happy marriage between technology, business acumen, skilled manpower, and growth infrastructure. You’ll need to modify your solutions for them to make sense to the market and the customers that you wish to service. You need to be able to partner with the organization with which you are doing business with offerings, creating service strategy, forming the budget, laying the logical and physical service infrastructure, sourcing, training, execution - all of it. You need to take a leap from business process outsourcing into the realm of experience outsourcing.

Responsible billing model: Try to slowly move away from transaction billing to outcome-based invoicing. It is not going to be easy. Today you bill for transactions (calls/email/chat) you handle tomorrow you’ll charge on outcomes, let’s say a threshold of customer satisfaction, first, call resolution, churn %, repeat purchase, etc,  keeping the service cost below a certain limit for the exchange of x% of profit. I’m just saying. Commercial viability will have to be worked out but if service providers have to grow in the value chain they will need to value outcomes more than a transaction. And in the process will come into effect a high-performance culture because then the substandard outcome will mean substandard billing. Focus on performance will be much higher. And because it is a high-value job .. service providers will get to command much better prices.

Driving innovation as a core product: Organizations will have to increasingly invest in a thinking workforce, currently, the focus is only on doing (executing) which is why you have a mob of the unintelligent and the uninspiring, who are satisfied doing what they have always done, without thinking of finding different and better ways of solving the issue. Service providers will need to get creative, run of the mill thought processes will have to be now killed, deliberately. For the culture of ideation to thrive within the organization, leaders will have to reward thinkers, demonstrate a willingness to accept the nonnormal and above all, they will need to give the message that they value thinking as much as they value doing, if not more. Take up a few high-value high impact ambitious projects and run them so that the workforce has something to relate to.

Decentralize work (WFH): Cluttering the real state in today’s world is not only ineffective but also inefficient - the outsourcing industry will have to learn to ‘work from home’. A model that is a mixture of on-premise + Work from home has the capability of bringing the billing cost down with leaving larger room for service providers to expand profits, alongside creating a more independent, flexible, and happier workforce. I’m not even counting the environmental benefits of reduced vehicular traffic or saving of travel time, here. For far too long leaders have seen the outsourcing industry set up to be like manufacturing, that must change NOW!

Diversify into Tech Products: Voice can and should not be your only stream of revenue. You’ll need to create a 1st party tech platform/solution to survive.

Gartner says that by 2020 85% of the transaction will move to the unassisted category, the machine will take over man, we already see that reality manifesting itself in our day to day interaction with the world. If service providers do not invest in this critical adaptation now, they will soon be extinct.



On that note, I end this .. until we meet again.

 

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ I’m borrowing this line from a legendary business writer, if you’ve read him too, you’d know he means it. Will reveal the name of the gentleman towards the end of the article. Not all business houses and leaders think as high of ‘culture’ or invest enough resources in setting it right .. they often, on the contrary, are found wrestling with challenges that crop up as a result of not having strong cultural fabric tying loose ends of their organization together. For some reason they miss the fact that covering a wound doesn’t take the pain away; but this write up is not about them but the 'subject', so let’s get back to it.

Organisations have multiple identities, they exist for economic reasons, they also have a social purpose and sometimes even a moral signature; all at once. Travel far and wide, pick up any sector, county, sect or society in the Morden world, you’d find that wealth creation is at every core of its existence. Why else would you see democratic governmental setups talk about GDP growth.. etc? It is a good thing. Prosperity in practical terms is believed to be a close blood-related relative of happiness and therefore pursued wildly. There is no prosperity without wealth. This is not just a boring business administration line, you’ll find substantive evidence of it in mythology too, Hindu mythology in particular. The fact that we worship Goddess Laxmi and in her praise sing and chant mantras which when translated from Sanskrit into our language of daily use means “ to make happiness possible .. we need wealth so .. lord grand me it, in abundance” in summary 95% of the times, balance 5% is chorus, trying to match up with it, is proof enough.

For prosperity one needs perspective, though: this is true even for those who see happiness in things unrelated to wealth. For instance the great poet, Mirza Ghalib held that to lead a good life, all one needs is a good heart, someone to love and great prose to say so differently in different times of the day. If you read Diwan-e-Galib you’d find it. ( This is a rare book and is found only in the national Mirza Galib library at New Delhi, besides Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah). Do check it out.

Perspective is important and integral to organization building. Let’s agree that there is no right or wrong perspective .. as long as your straight view is legal and permissible you’ve every right to pursue it. It, however, needs constant reiteration in an organization to

a) keep people adequately informed and

b) making sure that people do not forget it. 

While an organization is way more , but for the sake of simplicity, let’s just assume that organization is a huge money-making machine : A huge press that prints currency, coming together of many moving parts some mechanical and others human ( accounting, sales, customer service, branding, information technology, procurement, and other, business acumens). From dusk to dawn it prints, converting paper into powerful currency. People who run it are happy seeing how humble paper with their labor turns into one with ink valued a lot more than when it arrived raw on the other end of their press and so are those who supervise it and fund its operations. Imagine, that the machines aren’t oiled routinely, its motors aren’t greased frequently, as a result.. some parts fail, causing a portion of the paper to get wasted, some ink going down uncountably. Let’s just say that workers are lazy, uncaring, selfish and insensitive, instead of letting the supervisors know about what caused the waste of paper and as a result lesser output, they choose to cobble a convincing tale, attach very little significance to it when presenting it to the top guys with the intention of having them pass it without they attaching much attention to it. And this happens over and over again as more parts fail thanks to aging, wear and tear over time. The insincere lot, keeps making their concocted story sound more believable by sprinkling experience to their false cover up reports.

Or they are nice people but in absence of reiteration do not find motivation to report the issue, some may be at a level of less than required intelligence, thus unaware. Silence irrespective of reason is not healthy.

Because not all organizations are small and confined to a small & manageable by physical inspection geography/ office; not every business leader has it in within his means to check and verify every bit of information that is being shared. As a result, having heard the story so many times, they begin to believe in it as much. The real problem keeps flourishing unchecked. Neutral voices that go a-galore against the malpractices are subdued or gagged easily for they are a minuscule minority, as a result, the misdoing continues till that curial breaking point is reached when it becomes terminal and death seems the only cure.

Things come to an end: of what is left people make their last sum of money and walk their separate ways to their next destination. 

In the process what could have been a prosperous endeavor ends in misery, distress, and disrespect. 

Let us imagine, the same set of circumstances in an environment that drives ‘truth’ for a culture, one that rewards dispassionate reporting of events negative as well as positive. A currency factory, that doesn’t reprimand unreasonably, one that encourages people to come forward to own problems and faults and of course has practices and people in place to quickly respond to the situation and correct it. The error would have gotten reported and perhaps the press would still be running as respectably as possible. 

When you’re a 200 to 500 people organization; setting these things right is not as big an issue. In all probabilities most sensible people would have been a part of the hiring process, there is near real-time interaction between management and the delivery apparatus. The problem comes when you have an operation running in scale when you have half a lac or more people operating out of a geography well spread out, in diverse areas of work. Then the challenge is real and it is not just of setting the culture right but also developing detection methods to know what is broken and where? Because the complexity is of an enormous order not acting is equivalent to inviting untimely death.

In this write-up, we will only deal with the detection of the broken and I shall follow this one up with another article on restoration, in the coming weeks. Do keep an eye on this blog for it.

What we need to understand is that broken things are not a problem. In the real world things break all the time, the problem is not having a pair of conscious eyes set to find out what’s broken and then also not having an honest intention of fixing it. Time is of the essence when it comes to fixing.

What we need to know here is that ‘doing’ part of any job is relatively easy .. in deciding what is to be done, how and when lies mastery. Everyone knows that to score decent marks one must study hard, yet not everyone scores well .. because the underlying behavior of all students isn’t healthy. One who sleeps in the class, doesn’t complete his homework and disobeys the teacher is less likely to do great in academics .. may turn out to be a great dancer but if the need is to have an academician .. you will have to look for the traits that make one. 

Therefore, organizational symptom study is vital.

Below are a few detrimental symptoms for you to observe in your organization, if they exist .. your organization is a positive candidate for restoration. 

1. When people agree ‘all’ the time with those in the position of power: Let’s accept this we’re not right all the time and when people simply agree with all that we say, we are headed for a disaster. You need people who without fear, favor or malicious intent disagree with you, give you a contrarian view. One size doesn’t fit all, don’t we know this?
2. When good news outbalances the bad ones on a continuous basis: Let’s say when you review a process or a business and it only tells you all that is right all the time with very little mention of what went wrong and why .. you have got a problem. Well, even Sachin has had to walk back to the pavilion on ducks, if the unit is not failing either it is not trying hard enough or just faking it.
3. Evident Follow ups: If you preside over a system that runs on follow up and delays .. it is a clear indication of the fact that either you do not have competent people or your competent set isn’t sincere. In both cases, if you do not get your people to change their attitude towards ‘on time’ delivery/ response; you will have to change them and if you do none of the two.. you’re setting virtual lighted matchstick to a stack of hay which is dripping with petrol. Someone is always monitoring, natural justice, you see!
4. Disregard for conformance: This one is rather easy when you see people not conforming to the norm for the heck of it.. you have a problem. The common way of finding it out, when people run late for a scheduled meeting, all the time. When they wilfully come unprepared, almost always. Or better yet, do not attend crucial meetings. You should know they do not care enough and you should care little for them.
5. Shortage of Ideas - When the group that you work with starts falling sort of Ideas.. you experience relatively long & unexplained lull, often .. you must know that your people aren’t thinking and because thinking is 50% of doing an excellent job. Chances are they aren’t even doing what they are really supposed to do, let alone anything nearly good.

Well, if you see any of these symptoms surfacing enough in your organization, you should declare an emergency. At this point, you should slow down expansion and fuel restoration. Because if you do not fix .. it will break .. and sooner than you think. 

BTW,  Mr. Torben Rick, is who said "Culture eats strategy for breakfast"

Have a great Sunday, catch you in the next one!

Balance is a myth!

Balance, a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions to the extent of egalitarianism. Yes, that!

Balance is one of the most commonly heard words from the wise. There is balance in ‘diet’, in posture, even between work and life; I’m here to argue otherwise. In absolute terms there is nothing called balance .. most practical translation of balance is choice. When we like a certain thing and we for some reason are not comfortable pushing the argument in its true color forward, we take the cover of balance to roll it across as a solidly knitted argument. Let me take the example of ‘work-life balance’. Successful people work a lot .. they work hard, round the clock .. they make work their life and therefore inch ahead of everyone else. Ruskin Bond, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Shah Rukh Khan, Roger Federer, Barak Obama, Nushrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nelson Mandela & Steve Jobs .. did not do a 9 to 5 to achieve the level of greatness that they did.  There is another set that keeps clamoring for a better balance between work and life; truth be told, this set likes other things more than they like their work and to fund that other thing with more time and resources they often argue for a greater balance between life and work. Actually, the demand is not at all that of balance but of choice. And that is alright, everyone gets a vote and when it comes to their life they must enjoy ‘veto’. But it will be so much better if you just said it.. plainly.

One of my previous employers had this amazing tradition, in which, after annual performance appraisals rating closure employees were encouraged to bid for open roles higher in the hierarchy than their current one. Interested employees were then given a week to prepare for a presentation/talk in which they were expected to establish their suitability. Those who impressed the judges enough bagged the position and additional raise that came with it. Announcements were made public and it marked the end of PMS for the year. Those who had designed the process made sure that they picked the jury for each role in a manner which made familiarity or let’s say the popularity of a candidate absolutely useless .. 9 out of ten times the jury picked didn’t even know the names of the candidates before arriving in the meeting room. They were often chosen from different business and different geographies.

In last 15 yrs that I’ve been on; I have had 11 promotions .. out of which 4 were from this amazing process, naturally, I owe my success, 36% of career progression to this and therefore I love it. 

Opinions were divided on this policy, though! Because opponents were looking to create balance.

Those who benefited from it, like me, went all out to appreciate it. The policy rendered efforts spent in building ‘relationship’ with the immediate supervisory and their leaders, somewhat less useful and therefore unnecessary. People went about doing their work, making sure their KRAs were substantially delivered on because that was the only way to get to the bid for the next level. This single policy in a decade of its existence prepared a generation of employees who neither worked extra hours to become somebodies favorite or really expected their subordinates to treat them in a particular manner, all they cared for was delivery and work. Output measures, 8 out of 10 times remained at the center of all conversations. It all looked perfect from a distance. This brilliant system also had its side effects.. in the sense people to people bond started becoming less and less emotional and more and more purpose or should I say task driven. People became dangerously cautious of what they were doing and if in any way it will let them in a position of disadvantage. Year-round people worked crazily on improving their presentation, leadership, analytical & organizational skills etc but devoted little time toward the development of the teams that they were responsible for, which in some cases also proved counterproductive. Critiques of this system said it is incentivizing selfishness.

The other group found this policy absolutely outrageous and were often heard saying that this policy was crafted purposefully to disproportionately support ‘extroverts’. Their principal argument was that an organization has a mix of personalities .. people with all kinds of strengths. Why should the system be rigged to this extent to support one set of skills completely ignoring the other sets? Natural outcomes included attrition, lower moral in people who were not wanting to improve on the skills at the same time were also not getting opportunities outside.

Perfection is a textbook idea.. in reality every story has another telling. Ours is a complicated world. Most harmless activity when dissected mercilessly, may make completely opposite of the original intention appear as the valid one. Let’s take an example of you praying for your own success on something which has only one prize. What are you then essentially saying? That may everyone else competing for it scoreless then you do? Of course, you don’t mean it that way and it is a great thing to hope & pray for, but those who have to critique will do so, anyway. And if they apply their minds enough, they would also land a few sane sounding reasons but then should it make someone choose one over other, against their original inkling because there is opposition? Certainly not, irrespective of which side you choose there will always be other sides.

That brings me back to the primordial question; Does balance exist? Should one strive for it? On a number scale zero is placed at the perfect center, how many wish to be there at that number? People want bigger and better numbers .. don’t they? Ok, those of you who think zero is a good number, when it is to denote ‘errors’ or losses .. great, understand! Even that notion is so because we want a positive outcome on a whole, which is inherently towards the right of the number scale .. off its center, isn’t it? So is there any balance, at all?

What do we do then? Smart people trade, the way nature has negotiated gravitational force to enable vertical alignment for. Make the best of what is available.

Be off balance, if you truly believe in your cause and do what is needed to forward that, at the same time remember, you are entitled to be whoever you’d want to be.. you have just one life. Be unapologetic for the choices that you make but it will always be good .. to remain ethical and hold high moral grounds in the process. Because .. what is ‘good’ doesn’t age!!

Have a great Sunday!

See you in the next one. 

Make hope your culture!

Happy new year, people! I hope 2018 is treating you well.

Earlier this week, I, kickstarted series of education session for brilliant people in my team .. the objective was to get to know them better and give them a different perspective, some thought for them to ponder over! Four sessions to cover the entire staff. And in the process, I essentially repeated myself, four times over and that got me thinking that perhaps, the message will find deeper application if it reaches a wider audience, so here I’m.

Organisations cannot survive in our times if they aren’t heterogeneous in composition, ‘more of the same’ is no longer a winning mix. You need people from various educational & social backgrounds, skills, personalities, and beliefs to come together to achieve what is the common objective. Everyone in their unique ways takes the group forward, every day, by contributing in the space that they work. A techie writes compelling codes making the product complete and competent, that enables the salesperson to go out there, stand hand and shoulder above the competition to win customers, those won over .. need help and support by a group committed to making bitter experiences better by applying what they consider valuable - service skills. Someone works tirelessly on excel files trying to make sense of it all and everyone else that is there is between who try and give it shape and enable it to work like a machine that is well oiled and up to date.

Often times, however, we get so overwhelmed, by the challenges we conquer that we begin to undermine the values that others bring on to the table and there seed of conflict is sowed; it only grows bigger if not checked in time. People who are there in the field get seduced into considering that those who operate from the office are lazy and unconcerned and those at office desk begin to believe that those fighting it out in the streets are outright ignorant and often times ill-behaved too- hair-splitting may get the observers a clearer view of who is right but then the organisation is not served well with these conflicts not even in the least bit.

It is said that when strong personalities come together conflicts become inevitable; because people generally do not like to budge. What does one do in such situations? These are real-world issues and often do damages which are far more grave than a bad business decision, they tend to make the organization shallow from within. People then come together only to pose for photographs not so much to really be together. These situations are just as tacky as they are tricky !!

In my talk, I spoke to my people about the great leveler that nature is when it rains .. no matter which way you pray, which school you went to .. whichever subject you could be major in - you’ll all great drenched! Sun rays do not light rich homes more than poor huts. Morning breeze is just as soothing to all people, of all background and beliefs - we’re the same people, we hold dear similar aspirations! ‘Expression’ however differ and that alone creates all the ‘differences’ that exists today. We must all be watchful of what, how & where we express ourselves. 

Whether we like it or not ; whatever we do for a living has a profound impact on who we are and even before we realize what we do all day starts reflecting in our behaviors and quietly creeps into our belief systems too, changing us from within, sometimes irreversibly. Be very sure of what you wanna pick up as a profession.

A goldsmith values precision over power; blacksmiths love power more; Pain in patient doesn’t prick emotions in a doctor, a worker at a construction site doesn’t mind dust, a scientist is not afraid of failing, customer service professional have fragile emotions yet are resilient - these remarkable traits are not what that these people were raised on or born with - but were acquired working and slowly it shaped their worldview. They all think differently of the same thing, sometimes.

These forces are so strong that it can come in the way of the larger objective at times, greater goals may sometimes, succumb to these differences. Every organization needs to be aware of these challenges and should have a strategy to overcome them.

Alongside financial & performance goals, the organization should also keep in mind, cultural goals and invest strongly in making it happen. In the face of most difficult times, it is the strength of character that pulls people up, organization are no different. Clearly identified values and very well articulated intent; are a good start but it mustn’t end there. If you look at Indian business landscape, we have more than a handful of successful business houses but if you were to name top two, The Birla and the TATA group walk away with the prised perceptional value, there! The reason is that these organizations really invest in values.

Every passing day makes it tougher for organizations to survive, they deal with multiple challenges, from rising cost to shrinking capital to customers walking away to difficulty in keeping top talent. Things will continue to get more complex and confined as time progresses.One can choose from the open ocean of positive adjectives and traits and make it their own by sweating to act in accordance at all times, but if, I were to pick one, I would say, it must be “hope”!

Without the audacity is ‘hope’, integrity, kindness, candor, respect, resilience, forthrightness, frugality and just about everything else is just as incomplete as is a cup of tea without the tea bag! Nothing is going to live until the end of time without failing and when failure sees you in the eye, “hope” comes handy. The failure can be of any shape or size but the undeniable fact is that it will always be there in some proportion or the other, it is inescapable and a lot/group that is not hopeful and madly so - will not always get thru difficulties.

The group I was addressing, did buy the message and wanted to know how does one really apply the currency of hope to buy goodness. Answering it is simply, you gotta practice “self-talk”.

It is a system in which you give yourself instructions mostly verbal that you’d be the best at whatever you’re doing. When on the road, you would try and be the best-behaved person there. When playing a game you’d instruct yourself to be the best gamer - not every-time you’d end with the best score but if you have the value of hope by your side.You’ll find reasons to try again at being the best at what you do. 

Hope keeps us going, in the shiniest of the times and the darkest of the hours. It is hope that made cars on the road and airplanes fly in the air, possible ( and also innovation and the engineering ;) . With unwavering faith and untiring effort, we can achieve whatever we set our minds to. Let us not forget, we should do what we must but in sight of the fact that our journeys can be singular but the destination is shared! We must remain one hopeful force, in all our rises and in all of our falls, we must hope and win together.

So here’s my message - always remain hopeful and keep telling yourself that you have to be the best at whatever you’re doing - everything else will find its own sweet place.

Until next time ;) 

Failure, a roll of the dice!

As we enter into the final week of 2017, I have to thank you for your continued support, I had not hoped to cross 7K on readership, so soon, but we did, 7056 to be precise ( till 24th Dec 3:45 PM). It has been a great year for me. Early this month, I sent out emails to randomly selected returning readers/commenters to ask them if there is a specific topic on which they’d like to hear from me. I received 347 responses, studied them to ascertain that roughly 86% people hinted at hearing on “failure”!

I thought a great deal about it .. re-lived most of those moments when I encountered failures and what transpired from each of those events and how life kept changing, sometimes irreversibly. I also got drawn into thinking how would life have been without those moments of failure, for a brief while that thought felt really nice .. and I did get seduced into devoting more to a failure free life but as I scratched the surface a little, I realised that my thinking had quietly shifted from being realistic to wishful, a few hours later, the idea almost appeared unreal to me and then I jogged back to my failures again to gather all that I had learnt from my own falls.

A day and a half with these thought & I got fairly certain, that my life wouldn’t have been what it is today ( could be better, and I’m working towards it) had I not failed. I tried looking at it a little more dispassionately, separating emotions from the core issue or the event. Most of my failures started to make perfect sense, then.

Come to think of it .. life is only a tad better than roll of dices more so because one thing leads to another. If decisions operated in isolation, failure & success wouldn’t have mattered as much, but because life is a series of events one coming after another in a logical and progressive sequence - each event is indeed imp. 

Let’s accept this - Shit happens! 

Don’t you agree? As much as we would despise failing; we all do once in a while, ins’t it? 

Everything counts, from you letting the snooze button win most mornings to you not choosing right things to eat or loosing to your own lazy self and thus missing on your exercise routine. Even in areas which are more formal in nature, lets say an investment tanking or an assignment flopping big time - We’re in a way a sum total of these!

Let’s open it up a little. Failure often times is considered bad, expect for that fact that is not always so. Some failures actually propel us to a progressive future, enables us to make amends and move on with our life just fine and even those which do not really make us into something better at least leave us with a better understanding of who we actually are. 

Both successes and failures start at a decision .. irrespective of the size, impact or even the context, a decision is always the starting point.

I like to think of life as a puzzle and each decision as a block in that massive build up that spreads itself across a stretch as long as a lifetime.The choices that you make lead you in a certain direction, remember nothing is absolute- your wrong could be someone else’s right, our lives are interconnected more interestingly then it may  appears to us. We keep moving forward each day a little irrespective of us failing or succeeding - because that puzzle called life, knows one thing and that is how it would like itself to get concluded. While it may seem like you hold the console but for the most part .. you actually get played.

No one I know has it figured out completely .. nor do I have it completely within my grasp but what I do know is that no one ever walked this earth without failing more than a couple of times, at things, they today are successful at. Failure really is the GPS to success, in ways more than one for those who really desire to succeed. 

Life will never be free of failures .. there will always be victories and losses. All of us will have to not only put up a fight for a seat at the table better yet try work harder to get to the seat at the head of the table. So long as there is life .. there will be struggle and so long as you struggle .. possibilities of meeting failures will be there.

So what you really can and should do is to think of an approach towards dealing with failure. The questions is to work towards a strategy to make these stumbles rare and too far and few in between by being meticulous, sincere, alert and above all careful. 

I wish for you to succeed but if life catches on .. you could make use of these three tips.

1. Quitting too early is uncool: Quitting is easy but not fun. In more than half of the occasions where I have chosen to be persistent, I have succeeded. Even in the face of most strongest opposition and most unfavourable of the circumstances you sometime have to just hang in there. You can’t finish first without being in the ring for longer!
2. Regard for Rejection: We give in, because we face rejection, sometimes even from people who we trust & look up to. Rejections can’t be the reason to give up on anything, what you need to pick up from it is the clues to change, to get better. You need to work your way thru rejections. Our world is not always very warm but it does get kinder to those who handle rejection gracefully. Validation is not as valuable as you may think. It is ok for some to not understand you or your plan as well as you do. Offer a nice smile and move on.
3. Future is not a mere repetition of past. - Everybody commits error, the important thing is to learn from them. Because you’ve failed in the past .. you shouldn’t try in the future is the most unwise advise that you’d ever get. If you care for it .. go for it! Let not failures of past limit your ability to carve a future full of success. You can change the pattern.. if you really want to.

If you ask me .. it is a constant struggle between the below two.

1) Desire to succeed

2) Fear of failure

There will be times when these two mingle into each other and become inseparable, you have to remember - nothing defines you better than your will. Law of averages applies to everything and it will caste its spell on you too, you will stumble, you will fall, you will get knocked down sometimes in the face and hard - it is all part of the procedure.

Fear and failure is part of life, the trick is to recognise it as a fact ; you’ve to give strength to your desire to succeed and in that long journey take a few failures here and there with a grain of salt. Nothing great has ever been achieved overnight. If you wish to succeed be ready to be in the middle and fight it till you knock your opponents down.

You real opponent is “failure” - deal with it. 

Gather yourself & stand again - for it is worth it.

With that I end this.. wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new year 2018.