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!

Civility pays!

“Civility in the context of business is, first-world-feel-good bullshit”, is what I maintained, in the early part of my career, in the years when I was new to tasting success (promotion meant success to me back then, nothing more and nothing less. It doesn’t anymore though). As I bagged my first few elevations, I became responsible for a team and not just my own output, things started to break a little. My razor sharp belief started cutting in the tranquility of my team and there came a point when I just did not know how to make do and proceed. It all seemed impossible, everyone in my team was elder to me and agreements were so seldom that I thought that my views and ideas weren’t made for collaboration. The library has been the place for finding answers, for me, for a majority of my life, so faced with this difficulty, I applied for leave and headed to British library to find a solution. There I got introduced to the legend Mr. Thomas hobs and his masterful work, in 1642, he argued that the mere act of disagreement is offensive. This simple sentence in that book came to my rescue. I understood, that I will have to prepare myself to like and even in cases that appear sensible love disagreements. I returned & resumed rejuvenated with that thought, things kept on becoming simpler and in about 8 months I nailed another success. Around the same time, another writer who I revere venerably, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, wrote in one of his academic papers that for democracies to succeed, disagreements and dissent is vital, that we must strive to be a society that is fair in encouraging its people to express their differences but at same time the discourse must remain civil and peaceful for it lead to meaningful consequences and therefore it is important that we agree on the ground rules of disagreement. Dr. Tharoor said it a lot more eloquently, I’m paraphrasing it in my own words. These two writers formed the basis of my tolerance at the workplace and gave me rationals to remain cautious and well behaved while at work, a place where I compete with others to succeed, earn both fame and wealth. My reading list from there on always had writers who have written on tolerance, respect, civility, dissent, and harmony of views, one such brilliant mind is Teresa bejan who has written extensively about the long history of civility and religious tolerance and lack of it, in society in the 17^thcentury England and the US. After Trump's victory, her work broke its record of sell, one can only imagine why.

My current view is that. 

There can’t be diversity without tolerance to disagreement and without opposing views real progress in our word is impossible.

Civility is no longer a vague and fuzzy virtue to me but a cornerstone to creating a high-performance culture, in my view. Continuing my quest to learn ways to succeed in professional career I read more as organizational behavior and its implication on the economy became an interesting area of research, psychologists are dedicating a lot of attention to this subject lately, with the Intent of measuring how a certain set behaviors result in productivity and therefore create profitable organizations and what are those traits that cause people to finish 2^nd sometimes without even realizing. Christine Porath is a known name in the circuit of behavioral science and behavioral economics, she after being humiliated at her first work chose to go back to the university and join a research program to understand the concern deeply and come up with her elucidation of impact. In her illustrious work she found the below striking facts: 

After an incivil encounter, it was absorbed that: 

Ø 60% of those directly impacted cut back on their efforts.

Ø 80% of them lost as much as 1.5 productive work day worrying/thinking about what had happened.

Ø 12% left the job    

It was also seen that those who witnessed disrespectful behavior but were not directly subjected to it were also affected in ballpark figures.

The comprehensive research also propounded that, when people are treated with respect and sensitivity, below things happen.

Ø 56% of employees are healthier ( fewer sick leaves)

Ø 92% of people are more focused on the Job at hand

Ø It improves retention by 1.1X

Ø And the workforce are 55% more engaged.

Cisco was among one of the first organizations to pay heed to her study and they estimated a loss of 12 million dollars annually to incivility in their organization, what followed in that organization is history. 12 million dollars is a fortune for most of humanity & that was the cost of being disrespectful. 

I wrote an article in July 2017 on how being “nice was going out of business”, will link it down below at the end of this article for you to read, should it interest you.

One of the gifts of education and upbringing is good etiquette, civil manners, and polished behavior. It is impractical to be Victorian in conduct when situations go south of the expectation but the whole point of being nice is not when things are warm and cozy, behaviors are tested in salty waters, if you stay cool when the heat is turned up, only then can you be called halcyon, isn’t it. The point is why do organizations misunderstand the value of civility? Why is disrespect used as a tool, sometimes even strategic one to keep the situation in check? Why do otherwise intellectual and wise people resort of hurling insensitive insults to make a point? Targeting is uncool, in all circumstances, whether you do it to gender, a cast, a creed, a culture, a set of people either above or below you in whatever scale that you measure things, situations and people on. Human history tells us that discrimination of all kinds has had a disastrous impact on peace, progress, and prosperity and yet despite the common knowledge things do go out of control, all the time.

If you are a leader of any stature, both “why” does it happen and “what” should be done about it, should be of interest to you. If you are someone who understands just money, all the more, because, hey, when a giant like Cisco can get bugged to the tune of 12 million, imagine, how much this luring bad behavior must cost you? On per person, per incident basis .. chances are that if you are an org smaller than Cisco with fewer heads to handle the proportionate impact will be higher, any day. Unless of course, one chooses to decidedly and foolishly look the other way.

“What” is straightforward, let’s pick up the “why” first.

Not all experience that one might claim to have essentially contribute to expertise, likewise not all beliefs are always knowledge. Our thinking gets shaped by our experiences, our learning, our surroundings, and our hopes and aspirations, plainly put. We tend to become what we experience .. for better or for worse. The ball boy learns the rules of the game without playing it similarly we unconsciously pick up patterns as they occur around us. Toxic environments do not cause healthy outcomes. And it impacts the collective organization more than any single employee or group of people because it is always easy for the employee to look for greener pastures but orgs can’t choose to change with so much of ease and as frequently for reasons you would imagine, I assume. The problem really is that of bias. Imminent psychologists for the sake of simplicity categorizes all biases in three categories. 

1)      Confirmation Bias 

a.    Finding evidence to confirm your existing beliefs – We are all victims of it. We create a perception and then see everything though pre-applied notion. Problem is that not always all perceptions are fact-based. If you have known something or someone for a long time it doesn’t always mean that information intimating from them are always correct. They can be just as incorrect or as incapable of presenting the whole picture as something or someone you might have known for a relatively shorter period of time or may be in the process of knowing. You need to listen more and judge less.

2)    Dunning – Kruger

a.    Thinking we know more than we do- This is a rather dangerous ailment I would say, mostly seen in accomplished people, they seem to disregard things easily that do not conform with their views. What they comfortably miss is that between they have experienced a certain situation in the past and now, a lot has changed. People are not what they used to be let's say 30 years ago. Old rules won’t make you win the new game.

3)    Cognitive dissonance  

a.    New information contracting our existing beliefs – Obstinacy, is a thing it makes us hate conflicting worldviews, so much so, that we get irritated really quickly often to the point where angry public outburst becomes our second character. You need to understand that in a world as diverse as our there will be more than one method of achieving a common goal. Letting oneself adventure a little is harmless. 

Literacy wrt the subject and misinformation on account of sourcing knowledge can cause us to gain intolerance too. To make real progress and real quick, we must enable ‘free thinking’ 

For “what” part of the equation: Below three steps can be a good beginning towards correcting biases and therefore getting rid of belief systems that legitimize incivility, intolerance, and disrespectfulness.

1)    Take inventory of your own biases 

2)    Evaluate your sources 

3)    Open yourself up to new ideas, thoughts, people and belief systems.

It is rather easy to lose control: shouting, insulting, targeting doesn’t require courage, decision, skill or even intellect, it just needs you to be in a place of control and authority, being civil and yet firm and decisive is something that really needs dedicated application of skill, mind, thoughtful reasoning and above all restraint. Making people feel bad won’t ever pay you back, neither in short nor in the long term, don’t believe me listen to this lovely song! 

Ek Din Bik Jaayega Mati Ke Mol | Dharam Karam Songs | Raj Kapoor | Evergreen Mukesh Song : https://youtu.be/pGYjHQbV1KE

I, in the sphere of my direct influence, consciously try to be civil so that I get to reap personal, societal, economic, emotional and organizational benefits of being respectful. Would you too?

The link as promised earlier for the article written and published in the month of July 2017.

Title: Is being nice beyond business?

Link: https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2017/07/is-being-nice-beyond-business.html

Bye bye, have a good day!

"The guy I know" is thankful!

If you concentrate on what you have, you'll always have more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never have enough."  -Lewis Howes

“The guy I know” is eternally thankful for everything that he has, he bends in a smile over all that he doesn’t, yet. He believes that what he doesn’t have is what makes his present worth going after .. if he had all that he desired for .. he remarks, his life wouldn't be as exciting as it is today. I’ve known him for as long as I have known myself .. and it is in moments like this, the fictional character takes over me and we become one; Alike! 

We see what we look for:  .. there is an abundance of everything everywhere .. all around us, here and now.

“Never in the history of time has human life been as good as it is in this moment, this truly is the finest that it has ever felt”: If this is not what you naturally think .. what you have is called ‘gratitude-deficiency-syndrome (made up the acronym). We’re going to together explore that today. Let me say this upfront that not being in the ‘best’ mood all the time is not unnatural in fact being happy and upbeat round the clock would actually be a problem from where behavioral psychologist see. Is there a pre-requisite for being happy? Or do happy people go through a certain set of circumstances? Or are they particularly tough or skilled people? The fact of the matter is that all of it is untrue. It doesn’t require any special skill, talent, circumstance or inheritance to be happy. It is the element of ‘choice’ however that makes all the difference. Now, choices aren’t easy to make ... no matter how effortless they may appear from the surface. Broadly speaking good choices emerge from ‘acceptance and awareness’ and both of these vital constituents are not easy to tame but we do not have to worry about it for there is one simple thing which when practiced regularly can swing things in our favor that is “gratitude”. 

Gratitude changes perspective, it can sweep away most of the petty, day-to-day annoyances on which we focus so much of our attention: the “small stuff” situations that bring up feelings of impatience, intolerance, negative judgment, indignation, anger, or resentment.

Believe it or not .. this one thing makes all the difference. Have you ever seen pictures of children in stark poverty, deprived settings, playing with waste and yet glowing with the brightest possible smile? Have you ever wondered, why best poetry comes out of most difficult circumstances? It is because those people make effort to recognize all that is good even when surrounded with not particularly easy or comfortable situations. It is because they do not fixate on what’s not alright … but what is rather ok. They are thankful for all that is ok no matter how small or insignificant they may be. It is not easy to be thankful and admittedly so when things began to crumble, for instance, it is rather hard for a man facing death to appreciate all that care that the nursing staff in the hospital shower, but the hard fact is that those who do ..end up better. Such is life really .. you always will get two choices .. to be thankful or to be discourteous. Remember, not all that you get .. you thoroughly deserve .. some of the things that you proudly own are a result of others being kind and patient with you. Let’s say up on the side table of your bed like every other day you wake up to a cup full of your beverage of choice ( I’m a tea person and I would totally understand if you desire coffee) , the very first sip of it doesn’t go down too well with you .. nearly unbearable. How do you react to it? Do you say that this is the worst morning of your life and then snob the whole day, avenging .. that bad taste? Or tell yourself that .. this wasn’t the best tea ever .. but thankfully, it wasn’t nothing to begin the day with? If you hold the 2^nd approach sensible you’d walk to the person who fixed that cup for you .. smile the pain away and then figure out what could have been done to make it better. Isn’t it? 

Cosmic truth is that things could not have been any different than they are in this moment – you can beat yourself to death, but it won’t change a thing. Sun will rise at its time and in the precise position it must to sustain life on earth. Things just happen .. now please do not bring that .. be the change .. and make it happen argument .. what we are discussing here is something way more fundamental, deep and meaningful, certainly not transactional in any sense. We’re trying to explore the belief system on which .. all resolves spring out of. So you .. keep your horses tied in the stable for a little longer and listen in.  Look around .. observe .. close your eyes and think would your life be the same if some or all of those things were not there? And when you do it .. you do not have to consider that last argument that you had about a thing .. or a person. Emotional outburst mess with your judgment system getting you to choose near-term good over long-term goodness. Life happens over an extended period of time .. some of these temporary rifts do not really count. You gotta see the proverbial bigger picture. 

Assessment done with a cool and clear head will end in you knowing that your life will not be the same .. not as good as it is without those things and those people. With all their imperfections and faults they still count and make your life what it is today. You still would want them to continue being in your life in ways that you would desire. This realization is key. The next logical step from there is being thankful for it and after that everything else is a cake walk. Simple, tasty and of course more meaningful. Don’t you agree?

Accepting your life and being thankful for it doesn’t mean that you are surrendering to it and that you would not make attempt to better it. Some confuse, acceptance for submission, I’m here to tell you that it is not. In fact, opposite of it is true, those who accept their circumstance, stand stronger chances of improving it. Think of it like …shooting a target, the first step towards a great aim is a great sight, a clear one. If you do not see, you can’t hit it. Clarity is important. The pace of progress is swift in peace and peace comes from acceptance, therefore, sure way to get there quickly is knowing where you are now well enough. Making progress is the single most important thing that humans have come to master and it will only get better if happier humans .. did the human thing.

Happiness and gratitude are deeply related. Unhappy people are mostly unthankful ... think of 3 most unhappy people that you’ve met... and ask yourself .. have they displayed any traits of being thankful? I neither know you ... and certainly not those 3 people you are thinking of ... but I can, with a great amount of certainty tell you that they do not.

Being grateful helps.

People who experience the most gratitude tend to:

• Feel a sense of abundance in their lives

• Appreciate the contributions of others to their well-being

• Recognize and enjoy life's small pleasures

• Acknowledge the importance of experiencing and expressing gratitude

The bio-psycho-social-spiritual benefits of gratitude are immense, a plethora of scientific research has been done to establish it. It functions as an antidote for attachment to what we want but don’t have and aversion to what we have but don’t want. Gratitude is the opposite of being discontented.

I wish to end this year ... by thanking each one of you for being there and making my life what it is today. I wish and hope that in the coming year too we remain closely related and progress towards creating a better world for ourselves, a more prosperous and a happier one.

On that note, I end this ... happy holidays.

Service Culture.

Between customer experience, culture & transformation I’ve written 10 articles (will list and link them at the end of this one) in last two years alone: collective views on organizational set up has also emerged as most liked and read category of all my articles, a close 2^nd being my thoughts on politics, history and social commentary on recent events. I’m not surprised by this at all, for the fact that after educational institutions the longest time that I’ve spent in any set up is organizational, various companies that I’ve had the good fortune of working with, therefore it is only natural that when I write about it ... people tend to spend more time on it. So, I thought, for my 2^nd last write up of 2018, I should take the count from an ordinary 10 to an auspicious 11; the most logical choice for the next and the last will be a social commentary; do come back for it.

I have written extensively about the benefits of promoting the right behavior and therefore setting the tone for culture to set in and hence to avoid the risk of repeating myself over I wouldn’t get into underscoring it again beyond saying that: We’re a collection of our habits, habits are formed by behaviors and these behaviors aggregated is a good representation of culture of the setup in which one expresses himself, verbally or by his deliveries. Therefore, it is vital to look at the culture at an incident level just as much as it is important to be looked at and understood at an entity level. Cultural signature becomes an inseparable part of one’s identity; it is true for a person, a family, an organization and also a country. We don’t say it as often, but we do assign a lot of importance to it; for instance, Finland is known for its quality education system, Singapore is known world over for its service mindset, Japan is often associated with loyalty and pride, America is torchbearer for individual liberties, England has heritage on its side and so on.

We’re in the process of seamlessly transitioning into a service economy from an agrarian one; manufacturing’s grip has been weakening over the course of last decade with our neighbor, China, making tremendous progress in low-cost mechanized manufacturing. Aggressive investments aren’t being made to boost India’s manufacturing capabilities either, under the current central regime we have observed year on year decline in the manufacturing index, over 80% of new money getting added to the economy is being pushed in the services sector; naturally, ‘service’ is becoming favorite of the business world. There is money to be made in it ... everyone is willing to jump in ... but do all succeed? You and I know, that it is not the case ... many are running in the race only a few will get to make it to the qualifiers, let alone getting any closer to one of the three medals that are there for them to grab. There comes the question ... which one will succeed and WHY?

Well, the answer is hidden in the premise of the question: Whichever organization succeeds in making service their working culture will walk away smiling with the trophy; everyone else will have to return unawarded from the show.  

What is service, really?

Service in its purest form is a selfless act(s) done to help others will no expectation of a return of any kind. Our setting is not charitable and therefore we will have to modify the definition a little to make it useable. Modified: Service is an act done for others with an intention of solving pain points of the customer (whoever is willing to pay is a customer, either today or in future) by extending convenience to leave him with the feeling of being cared and warm enough for him to return for more (repeat buy/business).

Phrases like – “customer centricity”, “from the perspective of the customer”, “the customer is the king”: are overused, mostly in the context of lip service. Very few, regard what they say in whatever they do. Customers get written about in fancy pamphlets and magazines, designed and drawn on creative posters but more often than not the message remains there. It doesn’t really get translated into real delivery. This failure is attributed singularly to the lack of the 'culture of service'. Leaders do not supply enough enablement... no real effort is made in shaping behaviors right. Don’t trust me? Open your current annual operating plan and try sighting an item called ‘service culture’ building in it? Chances are you will find toilet paper, tea bags included in the list of spends but not ‘culture building’? Am I wrong? Let’s get real here .. even soft aspects need resources. Things will not change because you find the idea warm .. things will change when you provide it with resources that will keep it warm and buzzing. Business leaders must make real efforts by throwing in the game some skin, invest money and time in building the culture right and then demand a return on it. For instance, if you’re looking at ending the year with a net profit of 18% without any dedicated expenditure on culture building, you should commit bucks to culture building and then demand 25% or perhaps, 30% from your leaders in return, if not in the first years in following years so sure. If real money is being invested it is justified to have a realistic expectation of return from it: Business 1.0.1, isn’t it?

Ever since I began my career as a front-liner, I dreamed of becoming a CEO, one day; I’ve made decent progress ... the run thus far has been exciting and God willing, I see myself becoming one in the near future (when and where is not quite known at the moment, but I’m confident, when the time is right opportunity will present itself). I often, think and journal, the lofty ideas and the idols that I’ve picked up from 283 books on management that I’ve read and from being in company of great business leaders, which ones will I implement first and how: No matter how many times I do the math in my head, creating a service culture in my organization comes right at the top of my list of priorities.  And to do that below are the three things that I think I’d like to do. When I’m saying this I must make it clear that these may not be the perfect set but one has to make a beginning somewhere and should it fail, the opportunity of course correction will always be provided by the strong intention of being successful in a meaningful way.

1.    Create a clear statement of intent: When you deal with large heterogeneous groups of people, you can rest assured of distortion, distraction and sometimes also degeneration among other great things that people achieve, there is the innate conflict between personal value systems and the choices that people make. Let me give you an example: For finding a satisfying meal someone on the Jain diet will look for a place which offers onion and garlic free food. On the very mission, someone on a non-vegetarian routine might love a garnishing of fried onions on their plate of fresh and warm chicken biryani. You see the purpose in both the cases is the same satiating hunger but people from two set of behaviors approach it in ways they find most suitable but unknowingly they are in stark conflict with one another. The organization is no different, such small mindless choices do cause a derailment and therefore a very clear, unambiguous statement of intent is required to be made ubiquitous. Way to do it, through AOP, yes I’d like a culture building spend as an item. Carefully chosen Vision, Mission, and Value charters.

2.    Review and Reiteration: Unlike with art & poetry business doesn’t have the luxury of time, it is always strapped for it, duty bound to move quicker than the competition on one end and nimble enough for the consumer on the other end. In the hustle of everyday, it is normal for people to miss the message, not everyone has been fitted with an IQ of 130+, only some of us have that gift and therefore .. missing is an everyday occurrence. Therefore, it becomes essential that with the outcome of the act, the intent is also reviewed just as thoroughly and regularly. Meaning, when you review a business units’ performance, you, of course, will see how well they did on the top and the bottom line, but you will also pose to the team additional questions to understand the intent. Why was a certain action taken, why was a certain product launched, price revised, hiring done etc to gauge accurately and objectively how well the thought process is aligned with the philosophy of the organization. Let not a misaligned intent hide behind results of either sparkling success or frustrating failures. Whenever you find a potential disconnect with the service mandate .. you will need to reiterate. Some will have to be momentary while others will necessitate a more structured intervention through, training, value improvement plans or leadership development sessions.

3.    Aligned & committed decision Making: You’ll have to prepare yourself to take tough decisions to protect your commitment to creating a culture of service, it could mean short-term loss in some instances, parting ways with business opportunities or favorite team members and even taking a strong view of one’s own conduct sometimes, here it is important to note that matches are not won in the ring but in the training grounds ( Remember the boxer Mohammad Ali?). If you are building for the future .. if you wish to be remembered then you will have to ACT in conformance, every single time. It is like the route of a drug addict after his rehabilitation, even one lapse could result in a complete reiteration of the addiction. You just can't slip .. not even once.

The generation that grew up on typewriters will end on palmtops that is amount of transformation that one has to go through in one lifetime, life of an organization is alike, it will need to keep reinventing itself to remain relevant and the “culture of service” as a commitment is worth becoming a constant cornerstone .. because business will exist so long as customers exist and so long as customer exists .. it will pay to love them obsessively hence the culture of service.

As promised, here is a link of other 10 articles written in 2017-18 on organizational setups. Thanks for your time and continued support!

1 - Customer Experience - It matters!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2017/10/customer-experience-it-matters_28.html

2- Customer Feedback, should you care?

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2017/12/customer-feedback-should-you-care-enough.html

3- From service to “Customer Experience” !

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/07/from-service-to-experience.html

4- Service & Churn!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/04/service-churn.html

5- Make hope your culture!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/01/make-hope-your-culture.html

6- ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/09/culture-eats-strategy-for-breakfast.html

7 –Empathy & Organisations!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/08/empathy-organisations.html

8- Before Innovation ..

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/09/innovation-why-and-how-is-article-that.html

9- Innovation : Why & How!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2017/06/innovation-new-normal.html

10- Transform digitally, NOW!

Link : https://lkstates.blogspot.com/2018/11/transform-digitally-now.html