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

Who are you? where do you want to go?-

All companies have its DNA which can be traced back to the time of its birth, to the  decisions and actions taken over the years. It is natural to persist with things that have worked for you.It is natural to reward those who have contributed to the success.There is clarity and there is no conflict in such a scenario.

Somewhere along the way  however,you find some reputed companies are respected for things other than profit making.They profess to take care of the interests of all stake holders in a balanced manner including the local communities.Taking a cue, other companies then feel that it is necessary to declare that they believe in some values and that the company intends to function and live by those values,

This however can be a tall order since for many years you have actually lived by some other values.It is okay if you are merely required to pay lip sympathy.But if actal implimentation is desired it can be very difficult since the new values could be totally opposed to the values that  have become second nature on account of practce for  many years. It has also got you success and  enabled you to reach where you are.

It is similar to that of a man who from humble beginnings worked hard and  became rich. During the initial phases, his focus was only on making money. Not very educated himself , he got his three daughters to be reasonably educated. But suddenly he realises that  more respect seemed to be extended to  those educated as doctors or engineers(particularly in the 60s or 70s  in India) rather than businessmen who had more money. Hence going by what the the society of the day deemed honourable, when it was time to  choose grooms for his daughters, he prefers doctors or engineers.

 He was not particularly comfortable with the sons in law's aspirations or priorities of life but made peace with them as demanded by the situation. But on occasions his natural inclinations, priorites   and instincts would spring forth  and he knew that they  were not in tune with theirs. Is this facade which does not allow you to  be your natural self,  a big prize to pay merely for socieity's envy or appreciation? Would this person   have been happier with a business man son in law?

Coming back to the corporate situation,in this interesting scenario after company declares its values which have not necessarily evolved from within , two schools could emerge. some people could  believe that the newly declared corporate values are sacrosanct, very dear to the company and that its future depends on regular and  consistant practice of these values.Many others on the other hand could believe that all these are frills being given too much attention and that success is dependant on continuing the time  tested   practces  that got you success in the first place. The matter is complicated further if the top management do not think and speak in the same voice but are themselves confused and  torn between  these two positions.

The former school may feel impatient that  reforms and improvement are not happenining at the required pace . They feel that the successful implimentation  may even be delayed till the retirement of the old timers who hold on to status quo tightly and are  at the most, willing to allow only 'cosmetic changes'.

The other school on the other hand is frustrated that whatever they have built up painstakingly and achieved  will be thrown away by these 'arm chair strategists' who may end up as  the cause of downfall of the company  like how the mighty soviet union fell after implimenting 'perestroika'(restructuring) and 'glasnost' (transparency) concepts  of  Mikhail Gorbachev.At best they would like to give lip sympathy to changes demanded by these values and continue to do what has worked  best for the company so far.

I had opportunity to witness a brainstorming session of a company wrestling with similar challenges. predictably, we had representatives of both schools expessing themselves but neither was  able to break common ground. To my mind, patience is the key to success in such situations..Both the schools of thought need to empathise and appreciate the views of the other.

But first the company needs to have  have clarity with regard to its corporate values. Are they evolved from within? Do most  people believe in its relevance and significance for success in the coming years? If people don't believe , appreciate and imbibe the values, it is doomed to fail in the application arena. One might as well hold on to what is true and real for the organization. However once the company is agreed on the need for change and fresh air in order  to be relevant in the days to come,  like I mentioned earlier both the schools of thought need to empathise and appreciate the views of the other

Those tending to lean more towards status quo, need to appreciate that in the long run, it is companies that have a balanced growth and give due weightage to the interests of all stake holders that succeed. Focus on profits alone will not enable a company to move from being a good company to a great company.

Similarly the impatient reformers need to accept the fact that success will come in small  baby steps taken towards the goal and that it is okay. After all as they say, Rome was not built in a day. People, would find it difficult to let go of practices  that have become second nature to them and  also brought them success this far..

If you wish to change the set ways of their working, they need to be given sufficient and consistent reasons as to how such changes will benefit the company. A lot of education needs to be done which can be time consuming but worth the effort.At the end of the day, the fact remains that both schools wish the well being of the company . It is just that for now, they  are not convinced by the reasonong or positions taken by the other party.

Corporate values are signposts for where you are going. When in doubt, when taking decisions you just have to look at them and ask yourself "Am I being true to this corporate value?" and Go ahead if the answer is "yes" and drop it if it is "no". Senior leaders need to speak in one voice and at every opportunity, about the correct ways of practicing the corporate values of the company. Examples both 'good' and 'bad' related to the practice of these values need to be shared and discussed frequently throughout the company.

If all of the above is done with dedication,with time, it could be sooner than later, that every one spontaneously  practices in letter and spirit everything espoused in the corporate values. Success is then assured and the company earns the right to be desribed as 'Great' and not just 'Good'

Mind Reprogramming

Dear fellow HRDians

In this blog I would like to rewind to my first post and take off   from there..How do we HRdians make a mark? One  working  in sales, on selling  'X'  numbers of a product knows that he has done well.In case he is far off the target, he knows he hasn't made it. Similar is the case with those working in production. However dealing with people is a different ball game altogether. Opinions may differ as to how  effectively a situation was handled. If blue collared employees strike work or the  incidence of  the  white collared leaving is increasing, the HR person is in in trouble. Not only does his own behavior impact his success or failure but also the behavior of other people. It is for this reason that the HRDian is insecure and tends to control people and circumstances.As a result, he is less liked and more feared or avoided by the others.

Many years ago in the late 80s  one of the interviewers asked me in an internal promotion interview " How do we tell that you HR guys have done a good job." I was for a moment taken aback by this unexpected question.Gathering my wits, I said " if there is no IR issues and people are working normally and contributing normally to production, then we have done well." He laughed out aloud and said "oh so, if things are normal all credit goes to you!"

In other words, in view of disputes on the manner of assessing an HRDian's contribution, he/ she is always on the backfoot.Added to this, the requirement of  being able to influence another's behaviour in exactly the way that is held acceptable by the management is another tall order. It is very difficult to predict exactly how another human being will behave.

Yet an employee'sbehaviour is all the time influenced by what he is  constantly thinking.When he has just joined a company, the spirits are high and thoughts are mostly positive at that point of time. Subsequently he comes across  discouraging  comments from those who are already working  there and wonder whether  he has taken the right decision- " What prompted you leave  a big/ nice  company like ............. and join this company!"More & more of this coupled with abusive or unacceptable behaviour from superiors results in the employee dwelling on negativity most of the time resulting  in  his overall behaviour being away from what the HR or management may hold 'acceptable'.

The fact is that programmingof the mind is going on all the time whether we like it or not. Programming occurs from our experiences at work, experiences at home, messages from TV channels, comments of social acquaintences and so on.The only problem is that these days our exposure to the negative is much more than the positive and we end up with low self esteem and negativity in repect of work & life in general.As a result,  doubts enter into the minds of the average individual as to his ability and possibility of success. In fact it was a shock for me to learn that a beautiful inteligent actor whom we would today call successful, had self doubts and even believed at one point of time that she is not good looking.If this can happen to the successful, what is the position of the average person bombarded with messages of not being 'enough.' everday ?.
By mind reprogramming ie by changing the thoughts in our mind( consequently our beliefs), we can change our life.Having changed it to what we desire , we can sustain it by constantly giving positive messages to our subconscious mind . As this is done in an altered state of consciousness, it is powerful enough to offset the many number of negative messages received by us in the waking state.

Mind reprograming can be done by the method  of  self Hypnosis  wherein  we can alter our state of awareness and  focus upon issues or ideas of our choosing. We can use this tool to build self-esteem and confidence, add clarity and a sense of control to our lives. In the hypnotic state we can access the subconscious mind to implement, at the most effective level, the changes we desire.

As the HOD of learning & Development department in my present assignment, I experimented with mind reprogramming in the early stages of joining the company.At the outset, our team listed down the  realities of the present situation with which we were not satisfied and what it is that is that we really wanted. As for example one big challenge in a manufacturing plant is to get minimum number of paricipants to attend the training program.Getting an external trainer is not viable if we are stuggling to get  even 15 participants to attend.

The technique adopted was to sit with my team of six, initiate them to an altered state of consciousness or alpha state and in this meditative state recite positive affirmations of the things desired by our department followed by visualisation of these things actually happening. This is followed by repeating the positive affirmations before coming out of the alppha state. We did this continuously for about 30 days since studies have shown that practicing anything for 21 days becomes a part of our system.

The above exercise was  modelled on the learning acquired by me in a twoday workshop conducted by  Dr Pradeep Agarwal of the Institute of mind control & Development ,Hyderabad. and from the book "Richer life through hypnomeditation" by Dr Sanjoy Mukherjee.

The method of entering in to an alpha state is to  first relax individually different parts of the body from top of the head to tip of the toes and  then relax the mind also while taking 3 deep breaths.After the whole body & mind has relaxed , the participants imagine as if the body has become very light-"just drifting & floating, totally relaxed" When this condition has been achieved positive affirmations are spoken in the mind in respect of all those issues in respect of which improvement is desired.

Some of the positive affirmations that we made are the following:

1)  All our class rooms are filled with participants
2)  We are a harmonious team
3)  We help each other win & take pride in each other's success
4)  Every one appreciates our contribution and sees us as important to the the success of the organisation
5)  All our proposals are readily accepted by the management

In a week's time since we started the exercise a class which was to be handled by our L&D team member as faculty  was attended by 40 participants at a time when we were struggling to get 15 participants. The face of our faculty lighted up like that of a 1000 watt bulb. Such was the the enthusiasm & excitement generated. Today if we do have a synergy amongst our team members, I believe that a good part for the credit for it should go to the mind programming exercise we did then.

I am also using the mind programming techniques after handling a Law of Attraction (LOA) class. At the end we go into an alpha state and make positive affirmations in areas of prosperity, health, harmonious relationships and peace of mind. Having learnt the technique participants are encouraged  to use it for their individual requirements such as getting a BE degree/ promotion/ dream job or purchasing dream house or car.
I have made an offer to  team leaders of shop floor that I can go down to their departments and make a customised exercise  focusing on the challenges of individual departments- quality, safety, harmonious work relationships. These can be affirmed and followed by visualisations of each & every artcle going out of their department with zero defect or top quality. I am sure that they will accept my offer in the near future and that I will be able to share with you experiences of application on the shop floor.

Mind programming can be profitably used by us HR professionals to instill positive messages in an alpha state so that it is more likely to stay with the employee as against the messages given in a waking or beta stage which could get lost in the thousands of messages he is receiving from various quarters. I hope your interest is kindled dear HRDians and you will experiment in this regard.
Rest in my next
Warm Regards