Customers, Employees and Shareholders....in that order!

There's a joke that describes the times we live in! A father called the hospital emergency line screaming that his young 5 year old son had swallowed the ball pen the father was writing with! The Doctor on the other end reassured him that help was on its way and he then asked the father what he was doing in the meanwhile to deal with the emergency - and the father said - using a pencil!

Reading about Rolls Royce's explanation for the A380 engine glitch in today's newspapers reminded me of this joke! The very first paragraph in the article (ET)says and I quote - " The London-based Group said that the incident will cause full year profit growth to be slightly lower than previous guidelines, but also added that the company's other operations will help offset any losses".

I was shocked to see no mention about the panic and alarm the engine glitch had caused to passengers and to see first, reassurances that the technical fault was receiving the full attention of every person in the company. And that passenger safety is paramount. Instead what do I see - the investors safety and interest over customers' safety and interests? Does this shock you as it shocked me?

What confusing and warped times we live in! Wall Street madness for profitability at all costs! Investors raking in more and more at the expense of customers/employees/ecology/instant short term gratification...the list goes on.

Money makes people fly off the handle!

Lack of Soft Skills, kills softly

I work with a lot of IT folks in my programmes. I wish there were more of them in my Management and Leadership programmes - and the only reason they are not there is because people in IT (at all levels) dont believe that soft skills make a lot of difference where it really matters. (By the way, Ive always wondered why we refer to them as "soft skills"! They are as "hard" as they get in terms of importance.) here's why:
I do a capsule titled "Coders to Consultants" and I always open with this slide:

“Software engineers have the mentality of designing code with one purpose in mind: to impress everybody with the sophistication and sleekness of their software. The impact it has on what the customer is looking for and on the bottom-line of the customer is almost nonexistent for them.” Eliyahu Goldratt

Lets take the example of Customer centricity as a soft skill that is so critical. My IT folks are so caught up in what they think is a brilliant solution, they almost see the "customer" as an interruption! The ability to listen to what is said and unsaid, the ability to empathize with the customer's world, understand what really is the problem before jumping into a"brilliantly architectured" solution that does not address the fundamental problem are all indications of lack of soft skills.

The ability to really "listen" to the voice of the customer - internal or external - can dramatically impact bottom lines, accelerate execution, reduce costs and improve productivity, ESAT, CSAT all the way.....and yet among IT folks given the choice of attending a "Customer Service" training programme versus an "Agile computing" programme, the technical programme wins hands down!

And therefore is it any surprise at all that:

28 percent of IT projects are delivered on time and budget
49 per cent are delivered late or over the budget
23 percent are never delivered at all

My IT folks, if you want to move from Coders to Consultants, add soft skills to your "cloud"!

New vocabulary for the flat organization

Just today I was sharing with a colleague that the "old school" vocabulary from the command and control era is no longer valid in today's flat organizational setting!People are no longer "human resources" to be exploited in a hierarchy. Superiors (guess the opposite of this word!) no longer tell "sub-ordinates" what to do."Employees" are not beholden to their "Employers"!"Staff" no longer need to be "managed".The "Boss" has retired!

Here's the new vocabulary - Human Capital! People! Talent! Strengths! What's your idea? Reverse mentoring!Do you have any feedback on my style of leadership? 360 feedback.Does the manager inspire his/her team members? Senior talent is "interviewed" by the team members who decide whether the prospective manager is the right person for them!Do you really need me in this meeting - I dont see the need tells the team member.Skip level meetings, flexible working,tell me what needs to be done and get out of the way.

Training is out. Learning is in. The more "senior" you are, the more "unlearning" to be done.

There's a new work ethic out there - respect is earned, not given. Leadership walks the talk - seniority minus capability is seen through. Information is free in a Google world. IQ is a given - EQ is the differentiator.Choice rules.

The enterprise that understands and internalizes this new vocabulary will win the battle for Talent - the only competitive advantage still available!! Welcome to Liberation Leadership.

Macro salary of a Microfinance CEO!

I have been following very closely the controversy and the tussle between the CEO, Founder and the Board these last few days.I was quite startled when I read that the CEO of this micro finance company was being paid a salary of Rs 2 crores plus and this set me thinking.
Firstly, here's a company that's doing great work at the bottom of the pyramid and I am quite certain that all the employees of this company are working very hard at every level to ensure that the company, its employees and customers succeed. What will the employee down the line feel when he/she sees their CEO earn a 100 times, 200 times more than what they take home? When the company talks of team work and team spirit, how can one man be paid so disproportionately as compared to everyone else? Is he the only person who is contributing to the success of the company? If I was working for this organization, I would feel highly demotivated to know that my CEO earns in a month what would take me years?
What was happening in Wall Street is now coming to India - where organizations are rewarding a few people for short term quarterly results, instead of rewarding teams who focus on creating long term sustainable enterprises.And we know what happened!
Mr Narayanmurthy said it wisely when he stated that the highest level salary must be no more than 20 times that of the lowest paid employee in the organization.
I am proud that this is the equation in our company!

Unfair and Ugly!

In this year's Brand Equity Top 10 brands survey I was shocked to find Fair&Lovely ranked as the the 9th or 10th brand!Here's a product that should be banned but instead we are celebrating it? Kudos to Hindustan lever, Cavin Kare, Dabur, etc who are all raking in big bucks by promoting apartheid.Fair and Lovely, Fair and Handsome (now for men too!), fairever, is this fair? Thanks (actually no thanks)to the battery of advertising by all these illustrious companies, women/men with dark complexions live their lives lamenting their fate and of course desperately buying these predatory products in a bid to "survive". I wonder if the people who create these products and their great friends in advertising who create the "fair is beautiful" messages so convincingly ever pause to wonder the damage on the pysche of people who can never turn fair even if they bathed in these products all their lives? Isnt this irresponsible? (although I was part of this industry for almost 15 long years)Increasingly I am beginning to detest advertising for its misleading and exaggerated messages.
This message of "fair is beautiful" gets into every sphere of life - of course we are all familiar of the "wanted tall, fair, beautiful" matrimonial ads. But what worries me is the concern that the same standards may get applied in interviews, promotions and even friendships? The conditioning of our society on the "white man's" skin legacy continues.
Thank you Hindustan Lever, Cavin Kare, Dabur and your competitors for ensuring this!

The Great Delegator (or the great dictator?)

Whenever I run a session on Delegation, there are great discussions that take place. Lots of questions, points of view and many concerns! One thing is for sure - this topic always generates a lot of interest and this to me is very encouraging because it tells me that today's Managers want to delegate and delegate effectively - only they would like to know how to go about delegating.
Firstly, many of them have been victims of poor delegation and hence either repeat the mistakes or completely avoid delegating assuming that to be the right thing to do!
Effective delegation starts with operating in the right paradigm - the key building block is about realising that delegating is not about getting the job done (although this is a by product)but all about growing the person through the opportunity of delegation! If the short term focus is only about getting the job done, we've missed the bus completely!Great Managers see delegation as a golden opportunity to grow their people and built into this opportunity is the mentoring that comes with it.
I was fortunate to have a boss early in life who was a great delegator with an eye for handpicking assignments and delegating them to specific people who needed to grow in their capabilities. I also noticed the way he used to team people up to complement each other's strengths!
Contrast this to a poor delegator who's only intent is to show how indispensable he is!Barks instructions, catches people making mistakes,snoops around all the time, picks the wrong person for the wrong job and finally exposes people so that he/she can parade their greatness in taking over and getting the job done!
A successful delegator is also one who is secure with himself/herself - an insecure Manager clings to their jobs and their specialisation. What happens if a subordinate learns to do a job better than them? Will they still be around? These fears cripple their delegation style and this is the "Bonsai Manager" Mr Gopalakrishnan talks about who creates bonsai employees and the organization remains stunted in every way!
The great delegator works on a simple set of principles - he/she must make themselves redundant in their current roles, their only job is to nurture talent and when they are no longer required they move on to a new team, a new challenge which needs their thoughtful attention! The poor delegator counts the seeds inside an apple, the great Delegator sees an apple orchard in every seed!
Delegation is the No 1 tool in the Manager's Tool Kit!

Role Models for our students?

Increasingly I find Schools and Colleges inviting politicians as the Chief Guests for Convocations! I find this trend disturbing because what is the message we are giving our children? The convocation ceremony is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for these students and it is a great moment to "inspire" them at such a sacred event.
For the life of me how can any current politician inspire our students? With so much rampant corruption and power grabbing and plain downright unruly and selfish behaviors what are we telling our students when we invite such politicians to give away their prized Degree Certificates? Are we telling them that power and position at all costs is what matters in today's society? The end justifies the means?
I was delighted to see Dr Abdul kalam as the Chief Guest at my daughter's convocation at her college - what an inspiration! what a role model of humility, accessibility, and simplicity! what lofty thoughts he shared!A moment that every student in the hall treasured and I am sure embedded in their psyche for life as they move on!
And I was dismayed to see a popular politician - as the Chief Guest at my other daughter's convocation!
Is it because College establishments, out of their own compulsions and selfishness for grants, omissions and commissions, "bribe" the establishment through such blatant psychophancy by inviting these politicians - so that they can go back to them for favors later?
The much larger question is - is there a dearth of role models for our children or are we changing our role models?

Precaution is better than cure that goes for everything

I am appalled by the sight of little school kids stuffed in autos perilously perched in the morning and evening rush hour!In my corporate training sessions, we talk about how many of us become spectators in our lives and watch things happen. I decided that I will at least write about this hideous practice. Not just stuffed autos, but over loaded school bags that our little angels have to lug to school.

How can parents expose their children to such a grave risk? How can school authorities turn a blind eye? I am not sure if I can ask the auto driver or the traffic constable if they have a conscience - it may be too much of an ask - so I wont.But coming back to Parents - if this all you care about your own children, I dread to think of the care and concern these folks display in other areas of their lives - to their colleagues, to their customers, neighbours....

And every now and then, we wait for tragedy to strike and for the media to make a spectacle of it to get eyeballs and after a commercial break things get back to the way they used to be!

Here's someone who decided enough is enough...


JALANDHAR NEWS: 4 Schoolkids An Auto From March 20
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The traffi c s taffs are i n to uc h wi th s c ho o l m anagem ents and p arents , newly ap p o i nted As s i s tant Com m i s s i oner of Pol i ce (Tra f f i c) Di l ji n der Si n gh Dhi l l on sa i d on Sa tu rda y .
An aw areness camp aign h as b een lau nch ed in th e ru n-u p to th e March 20 deadline, af ter w h ich vio lato rs w ill f ace ch allans, h e said.
Smo k ing, u se o f mo b ile p h o nes du ring driving, ju mp ing red ligh ts, u se o f red b eaco ns w ith o u t p¬ermissio n w ill invite actio n.
Tw o -w h eeler riders h ave b een ask ed to u se h elmets carrying an ISI trademark , a no rm th at w ill also invite a ch allan if vio lated.


Can we have more such leaders like Dijinder Singh in our midst?

One would imagine that at least when it comes to our children, they would tug at our hearts to bring out the best in us....but when I look at the next over stuffed, dangerously moving auto I am not so sure....we have become hardened, indifferent money making machines.

Quality - preaching versus practice

I chanced upon this banner and couldnt resist snapping the picture! So often a number of flashy initiatives are launched in organizations and they fizzle out because employees dont see the Management or the initiators of the idea walking their talk - like in the picture. Shouldn't the banner reflect the message that is printed on the it?
Likewise, when it comes to training and development. Management and Leaders talk about the need for Learning but are never seen in the classrooms either as learners or trainers. Reportedly, Jack Welch, when he was Chairman at GE, invested 30-40% of his time at Crotonville, GE's famed MDC. Here, I find senior managers are either too busy or are above training! Whats the message we are sending to our people when we launch big fanfare learning initiatives, just turn up for the kick off session, never to be seen again? When I invite Senior managers to follow through on their participants' training assignments, again, very little response.
Learning, Quality, Excellence, Change, everything starts first with us - like a wise person said "What you are doing is so LOUD, I cant here what you are saying" or cant read what all the wonderful posters or banners are telling us!

Mentor or Tormentor?

The whole of May we have been exploring the topic Mentoring and it was interesting to see a lot of questions/discussions/doubts/differences around this topic. What was gratifying for me was the feeling that I got uniformly from all sessions about the importance of the mentoring process, along with the dismay that there simply not enough mentoring and not enough volunteers to mentor!
It is important here to differentiate between coaching and mentoring although there's a school of thought that will disagree and disapprove of my distinction between the two. To me coaching is all about a specific skill - where there's a skill gap or knowledge gap, a coach comes in to fill this gap with his/her expertise in this area. For eg a cricket coach, a tuition master ( I have lots of whining to do about this later in this blog)CAT/IIT coaching centres, etc.An IPL coach now coaches his batsmen on how to sledge the ball over the fence - thats the new cricket as we now see it!
Mentoring is a lot deeper and has got to do with "teaching a man how to fish" versus coaching which is giving a man fish to eat!
Mentoring is all about influencing the "Being" of the person, while "Coaching" is all about the "Doing" of the person.
Coaching can be forced - mentoring cannot. A mentee must "want" to be mentored and a mentor must earn the trust and respect of the mentee without which it just does not work.
While Parenting should ideally be all about mentoring, parents have become coaches of their children with a vengeance! An anxious mother called me the other day and wanted me to suggest some class for her 14 year old who has a little gap in his week which she would like to fill up! Chemistry/Physics/Maths tuition, tennis coaching, karate classes, keyboard classes not to mention early CAT/IIT coaching. Mentoring has been delegated to the "idiot box"!
In this fast paced, quadrant 1 kind of lifestyle, Q2 focus areas like mentoring are disappearing and at this rate we will only groom more and more transactional managers who are "tormentors" of short term results rather than long term people leaders!
Anybody ready to volunteer as mentors? I have enough mentees crying for this kind of guidance!

ATM Any Time Motivator

I am suggesting that we design and install ATM's in organizations - Any Time Motivators! Where employees can insert their IDs and hear some praise from their bosses - pre recorded. I am even thinking of an advanced ATM where a robotic arm comes out and pats the employee on their shoulder!

Why this sorry state of affairs when it comes to employee motivation?

Why are Indian managers so stingy with praise and so liberal with criticism? I often ask participants in my session whether there's anyone in the room who has received too much praise in their organizations. Are they thinking of quitting their jobs because they are fed up with being praised all the time? In my 15 years of asking this question not one hand has gone up!I have often wondered why it is so difficult for managers to give appreciation to team members? Is it that we dont think it is important? We pay our people good salaries, they are supposed to do their job - what else do they want?

Perhaps it has to do with our up bringing. I remember my Dad would tell nice things about his children to other people and not to us!And we would hear about what he said from friends/relatives!There is a school of thought that praising people too much would make them arrogant and hence complacent.One must always keep people on a tight leash and keep them guessing about their performance.

Zig Ziglar said that while there are a lot of people who go to sleep hungry for food, there are millions who go to sleep hungry for a word of praise! We are like sponges waiting for a drop of praise. Don't we treasure our medals, certificates, press write-ups carefully collected over a lifetime and proudly displayed?

I am surprised that so few managers realize the awesome motivational power of recognition/praise/appreciation and use it so little? Instead, we prefer to believe that pacifiers like salary hikes, bonuses, onsite assignments, because it is simpler and we don't have to do the hard work of getting to know our people and the good work they do.

Great managers and leaders know the power of genuine appreciation - phony managers indulge in Friday evening motivation - just to get their employees to come in and work over the week end. Great managers give unconditional and spontaneous appreciation with no other agenda!

Happy appreciating - "Catch your people doing something right" as Ken Blanchard beautifully reminds us!

Work Life Balance in a 24/7 world - my recent experience!

Recently, when I was overseas, about 5 of us attempted to spend time together and I had posed a difficult challenge by asking them to take time off during the week! That request by itself was preposterous but I had no choice since I was flying back home. My friends obliged and I shall remember the 2 days together for a long time to come and how the world is changing - not sure if it is for the better!
Today, taking a few days off really means that "i will be working from home"! It was quite a sight to see how all of us were juggling our laptops, cell phones and email boxes while snatching a few moments in between to be together!Each of us had our own "net meetings" to attend and being thrown together in a small space compounded the problem - with 2 kids for company. The kids of course have now come to believe that when Dad and Mom say they are working,they mean attend meetings!
I could not help eavesdrop on the different meetings that were going! One of us was saying " Yes Mike, we need to look at the roadmap and clearly strategize the way forward"...I couldnt figure out what that meant but it sounded terribly important and earth shaking! When one of the kids was protesting neglect, the mother was saying "Quiet! Daddy is on a call...as soon as he finishes he will take you all to the Park because Mom needs to get on to another meeting"!
In between all of this, we took turns taking a shower, having breakfast, managing the kids, etc Somewhere else in another part of the house I could hear "Dont worry, I have the demo under control...it'll happen"!
"We need to use the budget otherwise we wont get it next year"
I was left wondering whether the so called flexibility that organizations are now offering their employees is a boon or a curse?

I guess when we work in global organizations with matrixed teams and reporting, 24/7 working and availability becomes the norm and "following the sun" becomes the rule!

What is happening? And do we really think that 24/7 availibilty is 24/7 productivity or are we fooling ourselves?

Long Time, No See

Goodness Gracious I just woke up to the fact I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe how much more of a drama I could make that. Apologies to my regular readers! Even the little blue ones!.

I am absolutely consumed with work, personal projects, just generally being not online in order to society in general, my day seems to be packed from 8am to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am not complaining though. but never say never.

I won't promise anything to you but I will blog more regularly. Truly! Assuming I don't get distracted by counting my chest hairs..