How does a well aligned highly energised organization look like?

One quality or characteristic that sets apart a well aligned, highly energised unit,whether it is a harmonious  happy family,an upbeat corporate or a partnership of a music /script writing duo  is the clarity about what is important for the unit,what is negotiable and what is not.As for example if 'Truth' is important for a family, all members including the youngest child knows this & will  take a stand on it without compromise. In the same manner in a factory, if 'Quality' is a core for the organization, every one across the organization is clear about this and any suggestion from anyone to compromise it in  any manner would be refused by even a junior member of the team without a second thought.Similarly, a music director duo could be clear that they would not create a 'Kolaveri' type of song irrespective of the amount of money the customer is prepared to pay.
In the recent elections to the Delhi assembly,the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the second largest number of seats but was still short of majority. The media persons were asking ordinary leaders of the party as to whether they would form the government with the support of either of the two established national parties.The respondents who did not enjoy any position in the party hierarchy had no hesitation in saying that they would not take the help of either party, as they were two sides of the same coin. The clarity at this point of time was so good that there was no shred of doubt in their minds to make the statement.If a similar question was to be asked to the leaders of the established parties, the answer would have been "our high command" or "national executive"will deliberate & decide.

This brings us to the interesting observation  that when an organization or unit  is young or new, the clarity as to the fundamentals is very high amongst all the members and the consequently they  enjoy  high  levels of harmony. With the passage of time,as the business becomes bigger the clarity begins to erode and you see the energy levels of the members of  the family/organization/partnership begin to sag. Our challenge, whether it is in a family or organization is to keep the alignment and energy levels of the unit consistently high by regular frequent communication & reinforcement of the fundamentals that are the core and non negotiable. Would you like to call them the core values? Whatever you call them,you will be able to assess  the level of its clarity in the unit by observing the energy levels in the organization.If the energy levels are coming down you know where the correction or fine tuning is required to be done.     

One to One review

In order to meaure effectiveness of training programs, we have been trying to go a step above the traditional immediate reaction level feedback forms.In this connection for knowledge based programs, we conduct a pre & post test. Participants take a test immediately before a training  program and the same test is taken after completing the program. If a person scores 50 out of 100 in the pretest and 80 in the post test, you know that he has assimilated knowledge from the program.
We also have a one to one review with participants one month after the completion of training programs when the faculty reviews the retention level of learning by the  participants & the extent to which he or she is applying the learning at work or in  personal life.It is also an opportunity to ascertain as to whether the participants require any support for implimenting the learning at work As for example a participant may request us to recommend to his HOD to support him in applying a particular learning. After six months we have an online survey administered to the participant as also to his boss for assessing the extent to which the participant has been able to apply specific learning gained from the program in the day to day work.
The responses from participants during the one to one review sessions has   been   very satisfying.I would like to share here the feedback from participants who attended the "Networking" (a job competency)  program facilitated by me.This job competency program focuses on improving the networking within the department,with peers from other department and other external contacts like vendors if one's job demands it. The course content includes builing rapport and trust,understanding the internal customer's needs,better communication etc. 

This sharing of what transpired in  a one to one review  is just a sample & similar responses have been received in respect of all our programs. The aim of sharing this is to draw attention of everyone  to the fact that training & learning is not just about man days but something that can  really impact our effectiveness at work:- 

1)      “I am now looking at things from the customer’s priorities & point of view. Being a maintenance person , I have learnt not to get tensed up & pass on pressure to my juniors. Instead I talk to them of my requirements & improvements after  the crisis has been dealt with .

I communicate better with my counterpart in other shifts & explain personally instead of just jotting down the issues in the log alone. This initiative helped in avoiding a breakdown which could have been for 4 to 5 hours.”

2)      “I am now interacting more with my internal customer and developed good rapport. “The win as much as you can” activity has enhanced my desire to collaborate  with other departments for overall good of company”

3)      “After the program, I am giving more support & respect to vendors, having realized the importance of their contribution to our success.”

4)      Earlier  even when I come to know that a maintenance issue has come up, I request that it be referred through proper channel through my superiors. Now I start the process of attending to the work & the formalities are completed subsequently.”

5)      I now listen more to subordinates, even apprentices and encourage them to share their opinions. Feedback from them such as grease is flowing from a machine enables issues from not becoming big problems later..

6)      After the training, I became observant of the dominant nature of others-whether visual, auditory or kinesthetic and appropriately behave with them to enhance rapport. ‘

I now also communicate freely with boss without fear. I also discuss with colleagues  more & plan better  and get better results. My personal life has also benefited since I make it a point to spend at least an hour per day with family.”.

7)      “I am now interacting more freely  with the boss and reduced arguments with him”

8)      I am now able to get solutions through discussions, listening more to people & supporting them started understanding the real needs & problems of my internal customer and visit him often to sort out issues.  Interestingly they are also now more than willing to come down & discuss issues. .

9)      I improved relationship with peer department counterparts by taking the initiative to understand by ‘pacing’ with them .

  Exercises like these which seek to measure effectiveness of training enhances our credibilty as L&D professionals and would lead to our customers taking us more seriously.Our experience shows that when the internal customer is genuinely convinced that we can meaningfully contribute to their effectiveness, they are eager to avail  and benefit from  our services. 

The power of Feedback

I have been writing the blog for some time now and am happy that more number of people have started reading it. yet feedback on what the readers think is important for the writer to go on.This is true of all activites we do in life. A writer needs readers; a muscician listeners as also feedback from the recipients.Children need support & feedback as to how they are doing.It is that encouragement that eggs us all  to do well. 

Sometimes,I have had readers writing to me by personal Email.If they were to write the comments in the blog itself, it may encourage more people to read the article. As for example, my post on "Contributing to  service excellence"  had no comments on the blog. 

However I received a mail from Mr Thanigaivelan Dakshinamurthy, GM(HR) Gamesa Wind Turbines Ltd who wrote: "I read your article on " Service Excellence" and find it quite interesting. I agree with your concept and also feel that it is necessary "to keep their self esteem levels very high in order to work effectively in this role."  After going through other articles, I believe that there is plenty to know from you.Thanks for the inputs.We will stay in touch & Take care of yourself." No doubt, these kind words enthused me. But putting it on public domain enables more people reading the post which I feel is important in the sense, our experience with the program for the service providers of admin & HR group was that it was  very well received and there has been suggestions that this be extended to the finance employees. The focus of the whole program was not merely giving sermons to the service providers but real time feedback from those receiving their service, appreciating their own difficulties in a  handling a stress ridden "thankless job' as perceived by some of them. We discussed as to how NLP techniques can be used to build better rapport not only with one's customers but also with peers of other   departments whose support is crucial. EFT (Emotional Freedom technique) for handling stress and building trust by self disclosure & seeking feedback(Johari concept) . comments & discussion about  this post  in the blog itself, could have created more interest in HRDians, encouraging them  to attempt similar programs in their companies.  Similarly when I wrote the participant's account on Sothern Regional conference of NIPM, giving a gist of the learning from the entire conference, the chairman send me a personal SMS stating "your narration & thrust given by speakers in each session is great and commendable.It demonstrates that you were not only attentative but also absorbed the contents in great detail.kindly accept my appreciation for the wonderful manner you have brought out the theme spirit.I cherished it.Compliments to your in depth knowledge & involvement .Grateful thanks " Such powerful, graceful words from the chairman , would enthuse many more people to read & benefit from a successfully organized professional  conference. Ofcourse, it motivates me as the writer to write more!  The other day, while in indiblogger I was reading the comments of a blogger whose writing I had great respect for, lamenting that at times she feels discouraged in the absence of feedback/ appreciation  from readers and has contemplated quitting the writing process itself. Thomas Hardy the renouned novelist whose book "Far from the madding crowd"  was prescribed for us English  literature students in school, gave up writing novels all together because a critic of the said times was very harsh on his novels- very sad considering the quality of the few novels that he did write. But to my mind, worse than being criticised,is being ignored. If there is no response you have no idea as to the impact of your effort. Often times we watch a movie, see a painting  or read something, like it very much but do not express our opinion about it .How nice it would be if we told people more often of what we liked, what brought us happiness and sometimes what hurt us  as well ( though Appreciative Inquiry advises us to focus on the good things & what is good & working). In fact it is the absence of communication, that is the bane of the modern times.   In conclusion i would like to reiterate that the power of feedback is immense. Discussions & feedback, even when we do not agree with everything discussed in an article,  still plays an important function, that  of the subject being examined from different angles, providing clarity and benefiting professionals in the long run.

Learning Week Celebration

In an earlier post I had discussed the challenge faced by the learning & development professionals to get  sufficient participants  released for training programs by our internal customers like production who have their own challenges & priorities of meeting targets.

In order to highlight the importance of learning  & continuous improvement, our L&D department took the initiative to observe one week in the month of November ( 25th to 29th) as learning week.It was in November five years ago  that the L&D centre was established in the company with 5 classrooms & a conference hall. As part of the week long celebrations, we sent daily learning quotes to the section heads and team leaders of all departments.We asked  two of our training service providers, Mr Narendra kumar of Instivate Learning Services and Mr Dilip Krishna od Born to Win as to what they thought of the idea of observing a learning week.Bothof them expressed  their excitement at the idea of showcasing learning.Video messages of their thoughts  were telecast, one at the time of inauguration & the other during the valedictory session.

On the first day a special Knowledge sharing session (KSS) was organized on the subject "Unlocking the mystery of extraordinary leadership skills" by Mr T.V Shivakumar,a reputed trainer.This was preceded by a formal inaugural session well attended by employees cutting across departments.In the welcome  speech I explained to the audience the significance of observing the learning week. During the course of the week competitions would be held in article writing and elocution in which the participants will share as to how .they were able to apply the learning from training programs and benefited in their day to day work and personal life.  I also reminded the audience of the story of two wood cutters.One of them worked hard & continued cutting continuously while the other stopped for a while to sharpen his axe.In the beginning it looked as though the first person was cutting more wood but it was clear subsequently that the second wood cutter was able to deliver more since he had sharpened his axe in between.Similarly one should not think of training as a waste of time ,but as an investment which would give rich dividends in future.   In their learning messages ED(Admin) and the VP(Production) drew attention to the importance of learning & continuous improvement.They. appreciated the initiative and wished the  week long  celebration all success.In the special KSS, the speaker suggested adding two key qualities to one's leadership style apart from the ones usually associated with leadership namely 'altruism' and 'unconditional love.'  This was a novel and interesting suggestion and at the end of the session we had a healthy debate as to the practicality of applying these in a corporate scenario.

There was active participation in the competitions organized in both Tamil & English and we gave prizes to the winners in the form of books at the valedictory session on 29 th November 2013. On that occasion we exhibited a video showcasing our L&D activities during the year 2013.The valedictory address was given by our Director (Finance) who appreciated the initiative of  observing the learning week and hoped that this would set the momentum for a better appreciation of learning activities & continuous improvement in the company. As a fitting finale to the week long celebrations, we had a special KSS by Mr Srinivasan, former member of the Corporate Management committee of the ITC group on the subject " Knowledge and Learning is the key to Growth and prosperity" Mr sreenivasan spoke of the importance of reawakening the child in us so that we are not afraid of making mistakes and the need to sharpen our skills for a learning lifetime,as he put it.He also touched upon Ken blanchard's life cycle model of leadership and the 7th habit of "Sharpening the saw" propogated by Stephen Covey. The session was followed by a lively question and answer session at the end of which the participants termed it a very rewarding experience.

We, the seven member team of learning & development attemped this exercise of observing the learning week as an experiment.But along the way, we really got excited by its possibilities.It afforded an opportunity to team members to show case their creative & organizing skills on the one hand while on the other it served to highlight the concept of learning as a way of life with focus on continuous improvement.I am sharing our experience so that readers taking a cue, may be encouraged to observe similar learning weeks and convert learning into a celebration.

In between the Conference

I had discussed in a  detailed post the impact of incivility under the title"Lost Customers, Lost employees & Lost productivity"   and how it can prove to be very expensive for the company in the long run.What is true of corporates could become true for professional bodies.

Here I wish to share an ugly incident I myself experienced recently. I had attended the Southern Regional conference of NIPM organized by the Chennai chapter at hotel accord Metropolitan ( Details of the learning from the conference have been posted by me separately in the last post ).At the conference, the first few rows were occupied by seniors-stalwarts some of whom have retired 15-20 years ago.I noticed that after each session, mike was  passed on only to the first few rows for asking questions.Most of the time they were not asking clarifications on the presentation made but giving their own  views on HR in general..when a moderator feebly protested & requested  to ask questions relevant to the topic, he was told that it was a senior member's right to express his views,which need not necessarily be on the topic presented.

 Seated in the middle rows,I had a question I wanted to ask.The person compeering had announced that written questions also could be sent across for answering by the panel although no one passed out slips or came to collect slips from the participants.However I took a sheet from my note pad, wrote the question and moved to the front to pass on my question. I had gone a little distance when  the compeer told me that time was up & that I can talk to the speaker during tea time. I told him that this is not fair & that equal opportunities was not being given to everyone. He was very annoyed at this but took my slip to the panel.It is another matter that it could not be read as tea was announced. I thought the matter was over.But little did I know that a great surprise was in store for me!

At tea break I chatted up with some delegates after which I was quietly sipping my tea when the compeer appeared from nowhere.He asked me angrily  "What is your problem?" I was just trying to figure out what he was speaking about when he started literally shouting at me as to how dare I insult him. He said that that I had actually  insulted not just him but the entire NIPM organizing team.I was taken aback by this accusation & by the disproportionate nature of his anger. I asked him quietly "Why are you shouting?" He continued to shout & said his voice is like that,on the higher side.I told him that by shouting at me before so many people, it is he who is insulting & humiliating me and not vice versa.At this time two gentlemen, senior in age came running & took me aside. I asked them as to "why they are are  concentrating on me when all the shouting & violence was being exhibited by the other guy" .In a way I could understand their plight, they dare not confront him when he is in such ferocious mood. Later they told me not to take it to heart & that the said person is known to be short tempered.

 Actually, I maintained my peace for three reasons. If two persons instead of one behaved in the same fashion, it could  result in a brawl with  HR professionals becoming  the laughing stock of society,the least you want to see in a professional conference. The second reason is that I was representing my company & needed to maintain the necessary discipline & dignity. The third reason was that quite a few of the present team organizing this conference was personally known to me and I did not want to embarrass them in any manner.

The compeer  was very competent in his role.In fact on the previous night he exhibited his prowess as a singer as well. I understand that he retired in a very senior position in HR from the industry. But does all this give him the right to behave in this manner to fellow professionals.Perhaps ,having worked in a very senior position he is not used to others even suggesting to him that "something is not fair"  which he deems as an "insult".

It is my humble opinion that professional bodies like that of NIPM need to introspect as to the kind of people they would like to project as their  face. All the qualifications in the world or all the brilliance in the world pale in to insignificance without emotional intelligence.If a HR person cannot manage his own emotions what can he tell or expect from others? I bring  this incident to the notice of HRDians only for the purpose that we need to remind ourselves that we may have to go that extra mile,difficult as it may be,  to practice what we preach.  

A participant’s account of the NIPM Southern Regional Conference-“The New HR agenda-Respond, Realign & Re position”

The conference started in the evening of 15^th November at the Accord Metropolitan hotel in Chennai and concluded the next day after a lot of interesting deliberations. As it often happens in conferences, you like parts of it, and it is for you take away what you find relevant & suitable. I am therefore in this post going to focus on what appealed to me instead of a giving a running commentary of everything that transpired.

In the welcome address the chairman of the Chennai chapter, Mr K.Manickam explained  the background for choosing the conference theme and its relevance, given the tough economic scenario that has impacted many industries.

It was the session on “Perceptions & expectations of CEO & stake holders” that I found the views of the entire panel insightful. Interesting & illuminating, right from that of  the moderator Mr Srivatsram, MD of Wheels India to the speakers Mr Prafulla Agnihotri, Director (HR) IIM Trichy,Mr J.N.Amrolia CEO, Chennai business school and Mr Deepak Kumar Hota, Director HR, BEML Limited.

Mr Srivtasram stated that he expected HR  to play a big role in the big challenge of communicating to employees correctly & frequently, the perspective of the management. In order to contribute appropriately & be effective, HR needs to understand the business part of the company. As CEO he continues to have the traditional expectation of HR being able to resolve conflicts. However, this needs to be done by taking steps proactively. Another important expectation from HR is that the function evaluates the skill level of employees after which in case the skills are less vis-à-vis the job requirements and the payment made to the employee, HR needs to take steps to ensure that the skills  are upgraded. He stressed on not only improving the skills but imparting changed /new skill sets as per changing requirements. The speaker wanted HR to become the ‘barometer’ for the management which is able to gauge the passion level of employees so that action can be taken to increase the percentage of passionate employees.

Mr Agnihothri pointed out the fact that the younger employees of today (Gen Y) have a mind-set that is very different from that of the older generation. They expect to be in senior positions at a young age, want more flexibility & autonomy. They seem to say “I am like this. Take me as I am” meaning they are  not prepared to dance to your tunes. They are also short term oriented & less judgmental and want a work-life balance. What a CEO expects is that the HR person is able to appreciate these changes & respond appropriately to retain and develop employees. Rather than merely playing the role of a recruitment agency, what is expected is that HR spots talent, lures talent and develops them. Mr Agnihothri said that quite a few HR persons are offering to come and give a guest lecture in his institution. The real purpose, he realized was to assess the quality of the students during these interactions. Past students are sent to take the selected candidates out for dinner and give them a pep talk on how their company is a very good employer. Another expectation from HR is that they maintain a healthy work culture and be known as a friend and mentor and not as a watchdog.  A CEO is seeking to have the best quality employees at all levels in terms of efficiency, knowledge, skills & attitude. He is looking to HR to make this possible- attracting the best, creating trust & respect in the organization.

Mr Amrolia opined that the expectations from the HR is in a way contextual. As for example , the expectation from the CEO of  a software company could be different from that of a manufacturing company. In general however the HR person needs to be the CEO’s sounding board- give the correct picture of what is happening in the company after accessing & filtering the information. He would expect that the HR person does not play politics- Tell the information “like it is” and not what people would like to hear.He shared incidents from his career when he had the courage of conviction to hold on to his position when he knew it was right. As for example, when 360 degree appraisals were introduced, it was agreed that initially for two years it would be used only for developmental purposes & that the results would not be shared with anyone. It would be known only to  one person in the company identified as champion for the purpose & the outside consultant. The CEO however could not contain his curiosity and asked to see them.Mr Amrolia stood his ground and the CEO though initially upset was able to see his point of view. This experience sharing reminds us that in order to be respected we, HRDians need to at least articulate clearly  our professional views.

 Mr DK Hotha, as was done by most speakers  throughout the conference underlined the need for HR to understand business. He said most HRDians do not make efforts in this area  and that they need to 'dirty their hands' and work hard to make an impact. He also drew attention of the delegates to the fact that it is CEO's with good HR orientation who are the most successful.He talked of the need to meet aspirations of people. In this regard he shared a story of an OD intervention in a previous company where a team went & met truck drivers in their own work situations, collected data on their needs & aspirations which were presented   before a management audience  that  paved the way for arriving at strategic decisions.  

In the session on HR business & strategy, Mr R Venkatnarayanan,Executive VP(HR) Rane group drew attention to the changing business realities & how HR needs to respond appropriately in the changing times.There is a need to approach Gen Y employees with realistic expectations-commitment to the organization during the period of their working with the company instead of expecting them to put in long years of service.Ms Parvathi Karthik,head talent management of TCS discussed the changing role of HR from that of responding to enabling and now advising. She explained in detail as to how in TCS,HR metrics have been aligned to the business metrics.This has changed the image of HR from being just a service provider to that of a key business driver.The HR strategy & plans are aligned to the HR processes, leading to HR outcomes that impact the business outcomes.The HR metrics are measured against the outcomes and also serve as inputs for changing or modifying the HR strategies and plans The metrics help in letting us understand whether we are on the right track in terms of recruitment for example.The head count ratio lets us know the actual intake versus the attrition which gives you a better picture about the success of the  recruitment effort.The metrics help in developing the next workforce plan, fulfillment of demands & addressing unorganic growth.Learning & development plan will emerge from the information as to how many of our team members are upskilling their competencies from level-1 to expert level.

Another area you can measure is the effectiveness of your employee connect or communication exercises  (As for example in my company Hyundai,  the effectiveness of  events  "Coffee with CEO" for executives & supervisors .and lunch box meeting in which shop floor employees meet the VP production and HR can be assessed).Are they improving quantitatively & qualitatively? You can find out the relationship between the employee connects & attrition.Ms Parvathi stated that research has shown that "people who are connected do not leave the company." In TCS,all the metrics are reported to the business heads along with the comparative average of the various businesses. This also enables sharing of best practices.

Mr N.V. Balachandar ED(HR) Ashok Leyland underlined the importance of dovetailing HR strategy to business.As for example training calendar needs to be realigned each year in accordance with the changing needs. He said that the long time vision of HR is to be articulated & made known to everyone in the organization.HR ought to be contemplating "How can I excite people to join me and remain with me?"He also spoke about the need to provide the necessary resources & tools for employees to enable them to perform effectively.For example your  traveling salesman may be denied or given restricted access to 3 G card   which is most essential for his effectiveness while  a CEO or director may be given the card  which  they may  hardly use .With regard to rewarding good work, he felt that HR need to constantly look for innovative  ways  to recognize & reward, as studies in India  show money  alone does not motivate employees to give their best.

In the session on  Talent management & employee engagement the moderator Mr Prasanth Khullar,Director (HR) Luxury hotels, pointed out that customer engagement is not possible without employee engagement.He said that the staff of the Taj hotel Mumbai selflessly saved many lives of their guests during the terrorist attack.The question was asked as to "How do you train people to sacrifice one's own life  & save other's lives?" Care is taken to select caring people right from the time of selection.Importance is not given to marks scored by candidates but on their behaviour towards seniors, teachers & parents.The engagement activities for creating a sense of belonging include  inviting an employee to visit the hotel along with his family to dine in the hotel's restaurant as against the normal norm of the hotel industry which is- " where you work you should nor dine" The new joiners on getting married is granted free stay at the Taj for their honey moon.

Mr Issac Arunkumar Head (HR)Telecon ISU TCS, stated that the engagement model needs to create a sense of purpose & a sense of belonging.It is high engagement that leads to a better retention.He also explained how employees are encouraged to participate in CSR activities  and stated that their experience was that "Those engaged in CSR activities tend to be more engaged".

In the session on "New age workforce Dynamics"  Mr Venkateswaran, Dy MD(IR) sanmar group who was the moderator felt that situations tend to change rapidly & hence we need to understand the the live situation on the ground and respond which could mean a change in approach.Mr A.S. Girish Head HR Appolo tyres brought in the much appreciated humour in an afternoon session. He pointed out that the British institute of personnel Management had stated decades ago that "The business of personnel management is business." As early as in 1954 Peter Drucker had asked the question "is personnel management bankrupt?"  Yet not much has happened over the years in terms of the HR practitioners  becoming business savvy.He used a cartoon to indicate that the present status dealing with workforce is one of 'subsidized conflict & confrontation.A customer focus , becoming a strategic partner & HR getting to the center stage is the need of the hour.Towards this end we need to have strong HR policies, become the employee champion( so that employees don't run to the union for everything) and elicit partnership attitude from trade unions.The success of a IR or HR person lies in his ability to have insight in to the mood of men and his tact in dealing with them.

Overall I felt that the conference threw up some thoughts for us  HR professionals to introspect- Approach to business, approach in dealing with the younger employees whose number is going to increase day by day, adopting of HR metrics to make a mark and the challenge of  engaging & developing employees among other things. Responding to these challenges positively would enable us to realign and re position ourselves for success .

Visit of Brand Ambassador to Factory

A few days preceding the visit of the brand ambassador to our Chennai factory,the reactions were mixed. While it was excitement for the average employee, it was  "what is the big deal ?"He is anyway past his prime." kind of responses from the so called intellectual representatives of the population. It was surprising in a way that Shahrukh Khan who  had been the brand ambassador for Hyundai Motor India Ltd since the initial stages of production from 1998 was visiting the factory for the first time on 17th October 2013.

As for me I knew from experience that it is those who put on an air of not being impressed who tend to be overwhelmed by the occasion. My memories transported me back  to 1976 when the then matinee idol of Tamil cinema, MGR  was to visit & interact with the hostelers of  our AM Jain college, Meenambakkam, Chennai.Before the D day, some were critical of the invitee while others appreciated him openly or silently in their hearts  . What was interesting was that one person who was extremely vociferous in his   criticism was caught on camera on the day of the visit, his eyes unable to conceal the pleasure of standing near the celebrity  while all the thirty two teeth were visible in his smile.

As for our brand ambassador, as expected he not only floored the employees but also the press & the senior executives who were present during  interactive session..He spoke of how in 1998 both him and the company were in the initial stages of their journey and today both have come a long way. He shared his excitement at that time of bagging the assignment with a reputed auto major and how he had proudly announced this to his family members.

Shahrukh confessed about his soft corner for the santro, the first car he had promoted - how he was sentimental when newer cars like the I10 came from the Hyundai stable & was apprehensive as to whether the production of the Santro would be stopped.He expressed his happiness in  going round the world class facility and of being overwhelmed by the love & affection showered on him by Hyundai management & employees in general and the shop floor employees in particular.

The press also seemed to be in a holiday mood and when given the opportunity to shoot questions to the brand ambassador or to the top management of Hyundai chose inane questions to ask.As for example the first question to Sharukh was as to which of the Hyundai cars was his favorite? His answer of course was obvious. In fact a later question the reporter stated was being  addressed to Santrowala Sharukh Khan!

Another question asked was "With the general elections around the corner and the fever increasing by the day, whether you have any plans of joining a political party?" Sharukh replied that the only party he has intention of joining is his son's birthday party! Shahrukh went out of his way to graciously shake hands with a  number of employees. with a little more drive & gumption I also could have got to shake hands with him. Yet,it does not matter;even with a physical distance as between  the stage & the audience he had found a place in my heart by his sheer humbleness, wit & quick repartee. In her books"The Secret"and "The Power" Rhonda bryne advises us to look for things we appreciate  in other people.As we do this more often we are opening the window & the possibility of  attracting these qualities to ourselves.

I had devoted an entire post in this blog on the power of appreciation and the appreciative inquiry concept developed by David Cooper rider under the guidance of Suresh Srivastava. The key to its application is to focus on what we want rather than on what we don't want.This would mean that we focus on  enhancing the respect & regards for the gentler sex instead of on her harassment. During recession, instead of focusing & fretting  on the grim aspects, the focus can shift to enhancing the delight experience of customers.It is said that while most companies cut their training budgets at the first sign of difficult times, the Japanese increase their focus & expenditure on training & developing their employees. They use the opportunity to develop the skills of their employees who would have been in normal times very busy with their target achievement.

The present time of economic slowdown can be used by us to sharpen the saw so that many more trees can be cut effectively when the climate shifts to a more favourable  weather.We can attract better things in to our lives by shifting the thoughts & feelings from pessimism.doubts & apprehensions to optimism and positivism with the confidence that we are effectively  equipping  ourselves for the future.

The Right Man for the Right Job

The other day I was  traveling with our GM(HR) when the subject came up regarding appropriate posting of employees to get the best out of them in the best interests of the organization. I told him that I had written an article on the topic years back for the magazine published by the Mysore chapter of NIPM. He expressed an interest  to see it. So I fished for it among old documents at home and managed to trace it. When I read through the article, I felt that it was as  relevant today as it was when I first wrote it.

Therefore I am sharing the same with readers in this blog without any changes, meaning you may come across the flavor of 2002 here & there -

" Continuous learning,unlearning and relearning has been advocated in a fast changing world.Yesterday's solutions we are told, are no longer valid today.so much so new concepts are emerging by the day to be discarded or replaced by new ones.Thus we have had techniques such as management by objectives ,managing by wandering around, kaizan,empowerment, emotional intelligence  and so on  enjoying patronage at various points of time.But one thing we have all agreed on since the early days of professional management is the need for placing "the right man for the right job"

"Matching the two, the job and the man is the key" is what we were told in 1980 when I passed out. In 2002, it cannot be said differently.Yet experience tells us that that this is a tough ask.There is a gap between text books and the nitty gritty realities of the industry.There are too   many compulsions particularly in a country with a huge population meaning pressure to accommodate those who are less than a perfect match
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Even after providing employment,not much effort is made to ascertain & analyse the natural aptitude of the candidate while placing him or her.There are even instances of employees sent  abroad for intensive technical training at a considerable expense to the organization, being posted to unrelated areas on their return from training.These things happen because in our country many of us still believe that what actually matters is the production volumes and that appropriate placements and other such exercises merely distract attention from the core purpose of achieving targets. yet it is only the employees with correct fit who can meet the requirements of the demanding customers of today.In the words of  an  eminent management thinker"Most people in large organizations are so preoccupied with the "urgent matters that there is very little time for the "important"matters That is the reason why that so very little time is spent on deliberate thinking or conceptual thinking."

This article seeks to emphasize that matching the man /woman with the job is one such 'important'matter that demands deliberate thinking and action.Carol Coleman in her book "Late bloomers"writes that "in an ideal world we would all be free to choose careers that we find exciting & interesting.We would not be pushed in to jobs on the basis of sex stereotyping,economic need or any consideration apart from desire & aptitude." Often times in our real world however many considerations other than desire and aptitude influence our decision while  choosing our own calling and the posting we give to those working with us.With a little more care and deliberation we can more optimally utilize our human resources.
Every human being has his strength areas in which he can naturally excel.If the person is provided an encouraging environment in which his natural instincts and abilities can blossom,excellence is assured.However signals given to a young person starting on a career is to choose a profession that is very lucrative or held in high esteem in terms of status rather than one's natural aptitude.

Now let us look at the situation after an engineer has secured employment.In a government department, he   is given designations of junior engineer,senior engineer, superintending engineer etc .All the while he is reminded of the fact that he is an engineer. In an industry,however the engineer is designated as junior manager, assistant manager,manager and so on .He is constantly reminded that whatever might be  his core calling;his contribution would be measured against managerial competencies. Little wonder then that after the initial anxiety and  interest to understand the basic technical process of the industry,the focus of the engineer shifts to planning,organizing,directing & controlling.

If the employee has the full freedom to devote his time & energy to what he has the natural aptitude and training, without the fear that his future prospects in terms of status or monetary benefits would be adversely affected,best results can be assured.In the instant case an engineer can concentrate on continuous improvement of technical processes,quality issues,avoiding rejections etc without being burdened with the problems of man management. Another person having a natural flair and training for administration can take care of the planning,organizing,directing & controlling activities. Both can work shoulder to shoulder solving the problems of the shop floor together without feeling threatened by the other,their roles being clear cut.They feel safe with  the knowledge that at a particular level in the organizational hierarchy both enjoy the same facilities whether monetary, or other office privileges like person transport.

By insisting on the engineer playing the role of an administrator, the damage can be twofold.The time that can be utilized for becoming a more effective employee technically is lost. Secondly the work team may be saddled with a manager who is not only ineffective but goes through the motions of his role with dread and discomfort. Of course all rounders as in a one day cricket team are undoubtedly great assets. But it would be fatal to the Indian team to declare that a specialist bowler like Srinath or Harbhajan will have no role in the team because they are not equally adept at batting. It would be equally absurd to suggest that Brian Lara does not have a place in the side for want of bowling prowess.

While summarizing, it is to be reiterated that the 'right man for the right job' is a valid mantra that cannot go out of fashion.It needs our due attention. While people who have natural flair and competency in diverse skill sets can be encouraged to move to roles of their choice, it need not and should not be a norm especially if the shift is not what comes naturally to the individual.According to Jane Roberts,social scientist "Nature and your own nature works best when left all alone. You will find that you excel in those areas that you let yourself alone and do what comes naturally because you are inclined in that direction." What we need to do is to work as a team in harmony while each one is doing what comes naturally to him/her.It is better to be a first rate carpenter than a third rate doctor,engineer or HR person. It is better to be a wonderful 'you'than a lesser 'some one else.'In other words,for best results you need the"Right people in the right jobs"

All ideas in one place

 Dear fellow HRD ians

I started  this blog with the following post in September 2012.

"HR at crossroads- A new path, a new way is the need of the hour"

Recently the Nehru Group of Institutions invited me to speak  in their 24 hour HR conclave on "HR practices for the next generation"which gave me the platform to tell the management  students everything I have been discussing in the blog .
I have provided the link so that readers can get in one place  everything I wanted to say.
Rest in my next

Lost Employees,Lost Customers & Lost Productivity

A young friend from the education industry brought to my attention  an interesting article "The price of Incivility" published in the Jan-Feb issue of the Harvard Business Review. The article discusses the losses caused by incivility in business or work place that can actually be converted in terms of money. We generally know that incivility is not good and that it does adversely affect work. In the article however, the authors point out that the losses can in fact be arrived in terms of hard cash. The article mentions that even in a "exemplary work place" like that of CISCO, incivility cost was estimated at $12 million a year.

The article goes on to discuss methods of how we can improve civility in the work place which include hiring for civility and making civility an important element of performance appraisal. I felt an uncanny similarity between some of the things discussed in this article and the subject matter of my post "Back to the Basics" in this very blog. Uncivil behaviour mentioned in the article include  door slamming, side conversations/ exclusions and blatant disregard for people's time. It can take subtle forms such as sending Emails during a presentation or boss who "teases" direct reports in ways that sting.

 These days uncivil behaviour seems to have become a way of life. I was recently attending a national conference of the prestigious Madras Management Association in Chennai. The conference had just begun with the key note address in progress and I was seated in one of  the front rows. A gentleman seated next to me  opened his I pad and was absorbed  in it. To me this was clearly unacceptable as this not only meant disrespecting the speaker but also disturbing me the neighbour. "This could as well have been done at home, why drive this far to work on it? "I muttered under my breath. To this the gentleman responded Ï beg your pardon!" So this time I repeated my thoughts clearly. In all fairness to the gentleman he immediately closed the I pad and focused on the deliberations of the conference. In the times we are presently living in, it is possible that people do not even realize that they are exhibiting uncivil behaviour.

The HBR article goes on to say that in the face of incivility creativity suffers, performance & team spirit suffers  and customers turn away.Uncivil behaviour in public, in  the presence of customers puts them off  and they are not likely to buy from that organization even if the bad behaviour is not aimed at them  directly but is  an altercation  between two employees. If employees are targets of incivility they could knowingly or unknowingly  take revenge by  coming  through negatively before the customer ,thus adversely affecting business.

 I recently visited a multi product show room of a well known distributer who has  branches in various parts of Chennai city. My aim in entering the Puraswalkam branch was to buy a suitable suit case for travel. On the way up to the 4th floor I asked for directions and also observed the employees. I had feeling that the whole place was overstaffed and employees more busy chatting up amongst themselves rather than paying attention to the customers. When I reached the suitcase section, the sales person who attended to me was cordial enough but there was a general feeling of discomfort in my body  and finally I ended up leaving without making the purchase from that place.

The costs of incivility  mentioned  in the HBR  article which is based on a poll involving 800 persons in 17 industries reveals that among employees who have been at the receiving end of incivility

• 48% intentionally decreased their work effort
• 47% intentionally decreased the time spent at work
• 38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work
• 80% lost work time worrying about the incident
• 63% lost work time avoiding the offender
• 66% said that their performance declined
• 78% said that their commitment to the organization declined
• 12%said that they left their job because of the uncivil treatment
• 25% admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers

The article has suggested that employees/ leaders  look at themselves to see where they stand in terms of appropriate behaviour  and keep tabs on progress. At the organizational level hiring for civility, teaching civility, creating group norms, rewarding good behaviour and penalizing bad behaviour will go a long way in creating the appropriate climate.

In my "Back to the Basics" post quite a bit of what is mentioned above was discussed. It did not however have the backing of solid data based on research. Now with the availability of  the above facts, it is all the more reason for us to acknowledge the basics. the bedrock of which is respect for every one around you , whether colleagues or customers. When basics are in place we do not have to fear loss of employees, customers or productivity. On the other hand. complacency and a disinclination to act could make the title of this post a distinct possibility.
 Good Luck! 

contributing to Service Excellence

Employees working in the service domain whether in the hospitaliy industry or the manufacturing  face a lot of challenges.One such challenge is to maintain the same motivation  to serve day after day even when the activities have begun to feel repetitive and  hardly any compliment is forthcoming  from the customer (particularly internal) who on the contrary seem to be easily critical.

In such a scenario, over a period of time the personnel working in the canteen, transport, medical & other areas tend to slip and complaints come in regarding rude or inconsiderate behaviour.As a response to this situation, the VP(HR) wanted me to design and roll out a training program for employees in  HR, particularly General Administration.

To me this was an opportunity to include all the  concepts that I hold dear and have discussed in this blog.It was decided to link the content to the core values of the company- customer, collaboration ,people & challenge(Globality being the fifth value). Under 'people' aspects of developing rapport (using NLP as a tool ) and building trust was discussed. The content under ' customer' included identifying all your customers, their needs & expectations and coming out with ideas for providing a 'Aha moment. Under collaboration similar execise was done to identify the peer departments & their needs/expectations and how they can be met to enhance rapport was discussed.
A session discussed the challenges & difficulties faced by the participants in their own individual areas of work followed by a session on handling stress and remaining calm & composed  under pressure using  the Emotional Freedom Technique  (EFT).The tapping  tecnique was practically taught to the participants.They were also drawn attention to the need to keep their self esteem levels very high in order to work effectively in this role.

Towards the end, appreciative Inquiry (AI) exercise was done wherein the participants shared before the whole class, stories of the time when they felt on top of the world while at work or while  engaged in an  intense activity. (see the post on "On the Appreciative journey"  for the methodology adopted) . Key qualities were picked up from these stories by the participants  which they said they would like to emulate/replicate  in the course of  their present work.

Finally, we made positive affirmations based on the high points identified and a mind programming exercise was done (see the post on Mind Reprogramming)  to install these in the minds of participants in an alpha or meditative state.Studies have shown that any activity we do continously for 21 days becomes a habit & part of our system.Thus whether we smoke for 21 days or exercise for 21 days it becomes natural to us. I advised the participants to do the mind programming exercise for 21 days . I also offered to handhold & take them through the exercise everyday for fifteen minutes  for the next 21 days which they accepted.

At the beginning of this post we discussed as to how maintaining excellence in service is a big challenge with a number of constraints that need to be overcome by an employee  every inch of the way.Any contribution however small from us  Learning and Development could tilt the balance between  success and giving up. In the great  Indian epic Ramayana, there is the instance of everyone contributing to the big task of building a bridge for Rama to cross over to Lanka to save Sita. A squirrel was found weting itself, rolling on the sand and then taking it the point of the planned  bridge to add the sand that had stuck to its little body-. Even the squirrel according to its ability!
In the same manner, we should all endaevour to contribute our mite to this wonderful cause of excellence in service for when it happens consistently, brings cheer to many and benefits the organization in more ways than we can understand or imagine..

What Next ? - Learning Clubs

Dear Hrdians
It is a constant challenge for the learning & development(L&D) professional.He or she is constantly asked to prove that improvements or changes that occur is a result of  the training intervention.Although we have the 4 step model of  Kirkpatrick(Reaction, Learning. Behaviour, Results ) and the  5th step of  ROI added by Philips for assessing training effectiveness, to my mind it is not so much  the measuring and proving  of our contribution but sustaining the learning & application of the learning at work  by the participant long after the training happened, that is more important.

In this connection, I have been  requesting  participants at the concluding session of each program to keep track of   the  application of their learning at work and share in our internal knowledge management site(intranet), their experiences as to what worked and what did not work .While many say "yes''to the suggestion, rarely do they actually follow through and share experiences.

Of late I have been pondering as to what other  ways could  there  be to keep the participant connected or even hooked to the learning in the program? One thought that occured was that we could have them form a club with one of them  volunteering to  take on the role of a secretary who will ensure that the group meets periodically, say once a month to share & learn from experiences.I was considering starting of such a club in respect of the subject of Ëffective Communication" handled by me.

In the meanwhile , today at the valediction of the training program " Prompt judgement & action",  it occured to me spontaneously  to moot the idea to the participants  who were open and enthusiastic to the suggestion..Mr Sreenivan of Sales Logistics came forward to take up the role of the secretary.It was agreed that he would collect experiences of individual particoipants  every week through E mail & share the consolidated record of experiences to all the members through E mail.The club will have  a physical  meeting & interact in person  once a month. It was ageed that we from Learning & Development would give all  support that may be necessary in the initial stages for forming and getting it going..

All of us warmly shook hands with Srinivasan who would be the first secretary of the first learning club of our company.In future I am planning to  form such learning groups for all programs.It may not happen that all the 29  participants who attended would be active members of the club.. some may drop out .Yet, groups of passionate learners regularly interacting & sharing  experiences amongst themselves and also  giving their feedback to L&D  for enhancing the future training programs, is to me,  an exciting proposition.You, dear readers may like to try it out too and share your experiences!
Rest in my next

Taking Learning to Shop Floor

Dear HRDians
We have been discussing in this blog how we, the HR practitioners  need to think differently and look at new possibilities for reaching out to our customers.In the area of learning & development one of our foremost challenges has been getting people to be released for training which is seen by line managers as 'at the expense of production.'

Although we may be of the opinion that line managers are too focused on the 'urgent' matters at the expense of 'important' matters and that in the long run it is the one who is equipped by training who would be able to deliver much better, it will take a lot more time for many team leaders of manufacturing to be convinced of this view point.

In the meanwhile we have to find out alternative  means to get them to taste the 'chocolate'. Once they get the taste and enjoy it, they would be after us for more and more.At the L&D center of our company we have six training halls. Yet I am now looking at having sessions at the shop floor of short duration of around two hours. While regular learning sessions will also happen, we would be organising the shorter versions as well, starting  with our  shop supervisors.

Our learning sessions could have less of knowledge dessimination and more  of eliciting from the participants the  real isssues that crop up on the shop floor and provide them insights through discussions for dealing with them effectively.Recently, we had a program for our supervisors newly promoted from the technician cadre. A supervisor who like them rose from the ranks was invited to share his experiences as to how he handled  and supervised employees who were formerly working with him on the machines.He shared how he used a mix of diplomacy & firmness in dealing with his former colleagues & present subordinates. His inputs were practical, relevant and down to earth which we video recorded  and plan to  use in future training sessions.

For finalising the content of the  supervisory development program, I along with a colleague am personally visiting & meeting up with team leaders of the shop floor requesting them to share real time issues concerning supervisors- What behaviour they expect and what is the present behaviour. Live examples are elicited .For example a supervisor tends not to take any decision at his level but tend to pass on the problem upwards everytime.This information is very useful   and can be given as real time feedback to supervisors as to what is expected of them instead of giving vague , general and 'inspiring' sermons.After the program we would also be able to check whether there is a change in their  behaviour in line with expectations.

I am happy to report to you that I received a request from a team leader of the shop floor to initiate mind reprogramming  in an alpha state for about 15 employees.We have agreed that this exercise would be done for fifteen minutes daily for 21 days.The procedure is the same as I have described in  the article"Mind reprogramming."  We modified the positive affirmations in line with the unique needs of the department such as working as a 'single unit' by all employees who normally pull in different directions with ego playing a major role. The other affirmations pertain to areas such as productivity, quality and harmony in the  work area and prosperity, health & happiness  in personal life We are now into the 15th day and the interest  and excitement of the employees to the conept is very encouraging.I will keep the readers posted on the further developments in this regard.

In the meanwhile, I am in touch with the team leader of a new department that is being formed  and have suggested to him that we  experiment with mind reprogramming involving all the employees joining his team irrespective of hierarchical levels. .He has also evinced interest and this prospect is exciting as a new team would be in a positive mood raring to go and  we could hope to achieve big results .

I conclude this article by reminding readers that instead of complaining & lamenting  we would do well  to move closer , go to the work place of our customers and provide solutions to some of their real time problems.As they see the advantages derived from our services, they  would be  more than willing to come to us without pushing even  to our training halls .
Rest in my next

On the appreciative journey

Dear fellow HRDians
You will recall my interest in the concept of 'Appreciative Inquiry' from my earlier posts. With a view to take it further, I send a few articles on AI to all the team leaders of the company requesting them to read them and respond. The basic focus of all articles was the importance of focusing on "what we want" rather than on "what we do not want." One such article discussed culture change in Avon Products Mexico division where sexual harassment was a problem which they attempted to address by training. However in spite of training for a period of two years, the number of complaints were up & the number of law suits were up as well.

At this stage they approached David cooperrider, founder of AI with a question "How do you take an appreciative approach to sexual harrassment?." David in turn had a question for them "What do you really want to do?"
"We want to dramatically cut the incidence of sexual harrassment and solve this problem"
"What would that look like?" asked David
"You mean what do we really want?  What we really want is to be a model of positive,cross gender working relationships."
"Ah there you are! Positive cross gender working relationships, you will agree  this is an appreciative topic for focus  as compared to 'sexual harassment'?"
This was followed by a small pilot program to encourage success stories of times when men and women worked together.100 people were trained in appreciative inquiry interviewing to ask for the stories of best experiences involving achievement,  trust building, authentic joint leadership and effective conflict management.
As a result Avon started asking men & women to co chair teams and task forces. Two years later, Catalyst a  Womens' business interest group awarded them the best place to work for women in Mexico.

Well, this was just of the one of the few articles I had sent to the team leaders. Only one of them responded showing his interest & excitement about the concept.I offered to have a meeting with his team to discuss &   take the concepts of AI forward.As he was from the general services department, he was not in a position to release a large number of his  team members but agreed to arrange an interaction with six persons representing various areas such as transport, canteen, medical etc.
At the initial meeting, the concept was discussed after which the participants were paired into two. Each one told the other stories of a time when they  they felt excited and  full of life. Subsquently, the stories were shared before the whole class. Mr  A  gave details of  Mr B's story after which B told A's story. From the stories we arrived at the high points or important themes. 22 such high points emerged  which included (1) complete dedication to achieve goal ( 2)  Taking up/ accepting a challenge (3) determination to fulfill responsibilities( 4 ) an ardent desire for improvement & growth and so on.
participants agreed to discuss with their team members as to how these 22 themes can be applied in their own area of work.After experimenting with the application , the group would meet after three months to share their experiences,
We ended that evening on a high note. I profusely  thanked the team leader who was the first one to show interest & to take the initiative. The journey had begun. I know that we could reach many places from here. I will be sharing with you our progress & experiences.
Rest in my next