Is Winning Everything?

As young children in the seventees, we had generally been  told, whether at school or at home that winning is not everything.As for eaxample in sports,it was expected that you give your best, play the game fairly and wish for  the best team or contestant to win. Focus was more on  participation with a sportsman spirit and this was considered more important than just winning at any cost.
These ideas seem to have undergone change gradually & steadily. The world began to see sportsmen and their coaches resort to dubious means just for that moment of glory! So one day a person is hailed as the "fastest man in the world" only to be jeered a few days later as the "fastest junkie in the world".

In this post I would like to draw attention to the importance of healthy competition which has many benefits beyond the immediately visible, not only in the area of sports but in various other disciplines including the corporate world.

In an organization restructuring in our company, recently technical training which was  a separate  department was merged & brought under our Learning & Development department. hence 14 more team members were added to our original strenghth of  7 including me, the team leader. Although we had come under one umbrella, it was  believed that it will take some time for both sections to start experiencing the feeling of affinity for each other. Around this time an opportunity came up for us to work & bond together.

Foundation day is celebrated every year in the company during the month of May in a grand manner.Competitions are organized by the Employee Relations department in debates, essay writing,group singing,quiz etc. I suggested to the team members in both sections that we participate in the group song event this year as a departmental team and also requested them to think of a 'Learning Song' instead of singing a film song as is the normal practice.

Some team members belonging to the new technical training section showed enthusiasm to the suggestion. I also in the meanwhile started penning down random thoughts that came to mind for a song. "Learning, its Learning  that keeps you going......In good times,hard times,anytime..." (for the full learning song check out the blog www.corporatepoem.blogspot.in)  Some music for the lines  also sprang up as I wrote the lines. As I am no musician and there was the probabilty of not remembering the tune later on, I recorded the song on my mobile phone. Couple of days later Balachandran, a  team member from technical training section sent me a poem on learning. The lines included "Maatram mara ulaginile, aitrum tharuvathu kalvi ondre" which translated reads "In a world where change is the norm,it is learning alone that gives progress/ upward movement. The challenge was to find suitable tune for the poetic lines. The tune of an old Tamil film song seemed to match some of the lines in the poem.

We then  discussed as the full L&D team and decided to incorporate some of the lines from the Tamil poetry in to the learning song in English and sing the hybrid vresion as a bilingual.The group song team of six consisted of  3 representatives from technical training, 2 from behavioural training and me, the team leader.
The process of rehearsing for the song facilitated the opportunity to plan,collaborate, sing,be playful & get to know each other better. The practice sessions were attended not only by the singers but team members from both the technical & behavioural sections who came to encourage & support.

On the D day, the L&D team (Learning Stars) was invited to sing  first in the competition. Witnessed by all team members in full strength we sang the learning song which was followed by applause from the audience. But the question is did we win the competition? Living in a time when most people believe that "Winning is not everything.It is the only thing" the question has a a lot of significance.

The fact is that we did not win any of the three prizes announced. But to my mind,many are the benefits that we derived by participating in the event.Our two sections collaborated and developed a sense of comfort with each other. The entire department stood as one as they cheered for their team.We used the talents of different team members not only in singing but creation of the lines(most sang film songs). We had given our own music for the song.We brought in the novelty of including lines in two languages in our song.Last but not the  least the content of our song was on 'Learning', the very purpose & goal of our department.

Against these facts, can anyone claim that "Winning is everything"?

Entrepreneurial Leadership

I had discussed in an earlier post about knowledge sharing sessions of two hour duration  organized by us for the benefit of employees on various subjects.In respect of  a few of them which I felt was particularly noteworthy and  needed to reach  a wider audience,  I have taken notes and shared in our company intranet. This was in a sense a test on my writing  skills to capture the essence of a two hour presentation in a few words .

Here I am sharing a session given for our team leaders and above level executives in December 2012  by  Dr Srinivasa Raghavan,strategic advisor & professor of strategic management at the Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) Chennai and former Secretary to the Government of India of Posts(Retd).

Now the article as it acually unfolded.......

In order to succeed in today's scenario,it is necessary that an employee/manager/leader has a sense of the business as a whole.He or she needs to keep the eyes & ears open for every new possibility or opportunity to encash/do better, was the gist of the presentation.

At the outset Dr Srinivasa Raghavan spoke about the ten commandments of entrepreneurship:-

1)  Be a visionary like JRD Tata
2)  Be innovative like Steve Jobs
3)  Take advantage of opportunities like Dhirubai Ambani
4)  Dream & be creative like Ratan Tata
5)  Be a change agent & manage change like Kiran Mazumdar
6)  Be a problem solver like K.V.Kamath
7)  Take measured risks like Raghavendra Rao
8)  Be a leader and Lead from the front like Narayanamurthy
9)  Be a decision maker like T.V.S.Iyengar
10) Be achievement oriented & self actualize like Shiv Nadar

Dr Raghavan laced his presentation with stories from his personal experience of working in a government department in various senior level positions including that of the  Director General and Member Postal services board when he faced challenging situations- challenge of bringing entrepreneurial inputs in to a system that traditionally believed  that  in Service, there was no  business for business.

Yet, it was initiatives in this area and forays in to banking,logistics,selling commercial products through post offices ( Retail posts), tie up with the private sector,Western Union for money transfer,sale of government securities& fragrant stamps through post offices, opening of postal finance mart etc that helped the postal department to stay afloat and not become redundant & irrelevant in the changed world of Emails & chatting as forms of communication.The concept of 'Speed Posts' gave the courier services a run for their money.The speed post came to be trusted as more reliable & faster than the courier services. As Dr Srinivasan initiated most of these programs,he was in a position to give authentic details to the audience as to what actually happened.

While sharing the challenges encounterd by him the speaker also came out with some of the basic characteristics of an entrepreneur derived from his own personal experience & understanding:

• Entrpreneurs ask questions all the time-  what is the problem?  Is this the problem?  Is it the only problem? On obtaining answers to his questions he lesds from the front.
• Entrepreneural leadrers avoid excuses-  They do not say "I don't have the power/authority.People are not supportive. Bosses/subordinates are not OK. I do not have sufficiant budget" etc.
• Entrepreneurs do not succumb to procrastination.They do things which are 'possible' yesterday and the 'impossible' things day before yesterday!
• These leaders are likely to called "Crazy". All people who think originally are crazy.
• An entrepreneural leader would be willing to speak his mind, stand by his conviction and come up with a solution.
• In adversity the best comes out of a entrepreneur. He tends to be more open to new ideas.
• The entrepreneural leader not only exhibits entrepreneural behaviour but encourages others also to do so.
• An entrepreneur has the tenacity and does not get frustrated or give up.All good ideas need time to fructify.It will blossom in its time.
• An entrepreneur does not wait until every thing is perfect.  He takes what he has got & starts working.As for example Dr Raghavan was to receive $30 million from a UN body for a project.Instead of waiting for the full amount, he started work when $3 million was sanctioned, showed progress and was able to get more money to complete the project.
• Entrepreneurship is putting yourself upfront- risking your job, taking on your boss- everything.One does not make compromises.
• Proof of the pudding is in the eating.At the end of the day,you have to contribute.Activities alone would not do.
• An entrepreneur needs to be both flexible & upfront
• The entrepreneurial leader continuously talks to his people on entrepreneurship and about his vision & dreams.This constant articulation gets his people commited to the cause.

Dr Raghavan narrated an incident.When he was visiting a branch none of the staff was available.It was a Friday & all of them had gone to the mosque,not because they were Muslims but because the department had decided to sell insurance policies and being fully commited to the cause they were looking for potential customers amongst the devotees attending the noon prayers.

• Entrepreneurship/innovation is how you look for opportunities & how you encourage all your people to look for opportunities. 

The retail posts concept was developed as a result of this desire to look for opportunities.It provided the novel idea of post offices being a one stop shop for a range of utility services that included payment of electricity bill, telephone bill,insurance premium,collection of taxes/ fee for application forms of state public service commission/Armed forces medical college/universities etc leveraging the vast network of more than 150,000 post offices across India. In association with RMIL & WGC India posts sells gold coins of the denomination of 0.5gm. 1gm,8gms,10g,20gms and 50gms of 24 carat (99.9% pure) through select post offices.

Taking the concept further, the postal department offered to deliver to the doorsteps of devotees the prasadam of major temples in small packets (200gms)  making it convenient and affordable without actually travelling to the place. As a novelty the prasadam was delivered by the postman attired in the costume of a purohit.

Postal finance mart for selling mutual funds & offering free financial advice, first started by the department in Madurai and later in Pudukottai was an instant hit. Inovative features  like providing an ayah & toys in the next room fulfilling the needs of young working mothers contributed to the popularity of the marts.

Dr srinivasa Raghavan concluded his presentation with what he called the A B C D of being an entrepreneurial leader:

1)        A    - Aim High

If you aim for 100 marks there is a possibility of getting 90 marks.He cited the example of seventy year old Akkamma, a poor illiterate woman of Karnataka who has made planting trees her life's mission.She has already planted 10000 trees & continues the good work.If a poor villager can aim so high, why can't we?

2)       B  --     Believe

Have complete faith in the mission yourself- This will stand you in good stead till the end.It does'nt matter if only some people believe and some don't.Just have total belief yourself.

3)        C   --   Creativity / Cope ability

Be able to change with ever changing situations creatively. The accent in the future will not be on our capability but our cope ability.

4)         D  --     Determination

Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve.We only need to be determined to see things through till the end.
 
 

Resemblance

Children consciously or unconsciously pick up the behaviour styles of their parents,close relatives, peers or teachers.However the major influence is that of their parents who guide & mould them right from infancy. It is from their parents that they learn what is right or wrong.They learn to speak sweetly or rudely, softly or loudly.Whether they respond to viitors/guests, warmly or otherwise would depend on what they picked up from their parents.

Interestingly, I have noticed during my experience in industry for over three decades that employees exhibit work behaviour that they have picked up from  persons who were their bosses in the initial years of their career. Later bosses also have an influence but the single most powerful influence is that of the first boss. If an employee is open to suggestions, consults others  and is  inclusive in his or her behaviour, it would tell more about the boss with whom he/she cut the first teeth.Fingers point in the same direction if the employee is brash,impatient or tends to engage in power politics.

The manager/boss/leader is likely to have a contribution in  an  employee exuding confidence, being willing to accept feedback for improvement without being defensive and being  proactive in approach.Conversely,the influence of the boss could be seen when an employee tends to blame others for his mistakes,tries to save his own skin instead of going in to the details to solve the problem that has come up in collaboration with others.

The tendency of the juniors to pick up work practices of the bosses is all the more, if the boss has been acknowledged as "Successful" in the corporate parlance- frequently credited with achievement of milestones and regular, quick movement up the corporate ladder.Corporates have generally been concerned mainly about the ends rather than the means to an end.Therefore it is possible that quite a few of those exhibiting poor interpersonal or ethical behaviour could be adorning senior level positions.

The juniors then conclude that  rude, brash, manipulative individuals have become successful  because of these qualities that they frequently exhibit and that this is worth emulating. Marshall Goldsmith in his book "What got you here won't get you there" points out that that these people have become successful not because of the said behaviour patterns  but the success is in spite of such behaviour.In fact if they can correct these flaws, they can become even more successful.

The purpose of this post is to draw attention to the phenomenon of our behavioural styles as leaders  impacting not just us or even one generation of employees.It gets passed on a long way in to the future with rippling effect.Hence the onus is on us in leadership positions to exhibit behaviour that is civil, ethical and harmonious, Seen this way, being a role model is not another empty rhetoric but a real and  live aspect that influences work culture in our organizations for many years to come.

What should Come From Within

How to win friends & influence people?, a world famous book by Dale Carnegie gives tips on the subject which include addressing people frequently by their first name which according to the author is the sweetest sound  to the ears of the listener.Another tip is to smile often. The general advice in such self help books is to 'fake it till you make it'. Often times these methods seem to work.

But for me personally, a marketing person who telephones me and repeats my name every second  as a business ploy, tends to put me off rather than have the effect of my  warming  up to him. In another post ,in this very blog we had discussed the importance of "civility" and how incivil  behaviour in the form of  rudeness, complacency etc can prove to be costly to the organization reflected in loss of customers,loss of productivity or attrition among employees

Be that as it may, we may end up doing more harm than good  if we were to resort to the traditional command & control style for ensuring every one behave in a "Civil" manner by declaring desirable behaviour and punishing the deviants. As for example let us take a situation where management believes that supervisors and managers are not exhibiting sufficient care towards team members. HR decides to keep tab  in respect of each supervisor as to whether desirable behaviour is being  practiced with the help of  the following record:-

1) How many times does  the manager/ supervisor smile in a day?

(a) 10 or more   (b)  7 to 9   (c)  3 to 6  (d) 1 to 2  (e)  0 

2)   How many of his team members' homes, does he visit in the weekend in a month?

(a)    4       (b) 3    (c)   1-2   (d)   0

3)   How often does he have lunch with team members

   (a)  everyday   (b)  Most days   (c)   once in a while (d) never

Such an exercise would only generate plastic smiles that do not reach the eyes of people and an activity such as home visit would be carried out by just going through the motions with the spirit missing.  Similarly lunch everyday with the boss could mean the team losing its space and denied the little time when he/she  would have loved to mad mouth the boss once in a while.

To my mind life including life in the corporate world become smoother if all of us worked at the basics ourselves without external arm twisting, and allow our  natural positive feelings to spring forth.This would mean genuinely  desiring to meet the real needs of a customer & not focus merely on making a sale. For example if a customer ,given the size of his living room & number of members at home, wishes to buy a medium sized TV, the sales person facilitates the process and guides him to purchase the best product in the segment instead of brainwashing him into buying a large expensive TV with a lot of additional features that he doesn't need.In such a scenario the grateful,  genuine warmth that the customer feels remains with him long after the sale and he would only be happy to come back when he is ready for a higher end version or other products sold by the firm.

Similarly the more natural and genuine the feelings employees have for their colleagues and team members , better the chance of of good working relationships in the long run.Yes, some things have to come from within.It is futile to impose it from the outside. What we can actually do is to educate and create a climate for practicing the desirable behaviour we are seeking, For this as a management, we need to think always of the welfare of our customers, employees and other stake holders and not look at it short term as advantageous to business.

Knowledge Sharing Sessions

The Learning & Development department of our company organizes short two hour Knowledge sharing sessions (KSS) once or twice in a month for the benefit of employees by inviting both external & internal speakers to share their thoughts. It is purely voluntary and those interested attend with the clearance of their team leaders.Various  subjects  are discussed from the Auto Expo(information on  what transpired in the expo where major car manufacturers exhibit their latest & futuristic products) to leadership to health and personal finance, anything of relevance & interest to employees.
I am sharing here the gist of one such KSS by a reputed trainer Mr T.V.Shivakumar at our L&D center,some time back which  was well appreciated by the participants.

The talk was based on the work of Mr Albert Ellis , the founder of Rational Emotive Behavioural therapy (REBT).According to this concept we all can naturally be happy but for the fact that we sabotage it by wrong thinking patterns/ core beliefs.
These core beliefs generally prevalent in society are:
1) I must
2) You or they must
3) Society must

Such beliefs tend to get converted into statements such as "I must be perfect." "I must always be punctual" "I must get this promotion" "I must get the first rank in SSLC"

" They (My colleagues in office) should be friendly & cooperative"
"They must understand me & my difficulties/priorites"
" You(wife) must serve me bed cofee everyday"

"Society must treat everyone as equal"
"Society must respect me in all social situations"
"Environment should be congenial"
"There should be no pollution on the roads"

The problem with having such core beliefs is that when any of these things do not happen we tend to become upset & unhappy. So if you don't get the first rank you go to pieces; unable to face the comments of others,youcommit suicide.Merely by having a shift in perspective ie by replacing "Must" with "Prefer" you release pressure and regain the opportunity to be happy. Thus I would 'prefer' my subordinates to be punctual but if one of them is regularly irregular I do not allow that to upset my state of happiness.

This approach is releasing in the sense we acknowledge that all of the times others, society or nature cannot be expected to behave the way we want.This gives us a certain flexibility & acceptance of situation & people.
In conclusion, the gist of the KSS was that happiness is our birthright and with a little change in perception we can claim easily what is rightfully ours.
The talk of Mr shivakumar was laced with humorous stories and time (of one and half hours) simply flew for the participants in his presence.

The aim of this post is not only to share with readers an insightful subject but also get them interested in arranging such sessions in their organizations.

Business Agility

In this post I would like to share with readers my experience as  a member of a panel discussion on the subject “Building Agile Organizations.” The madras school of social Work a reputed educational institution  which celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2013, organizes a HR meet every year in the style and name of “symphony”  which is an opportunity for its HRM students to exchange notes with experienced professionals from the industry. As an alumni of the school I was delighted to receive an invitation to be a member of the discussion panel of the Symphony-2014 organized on 4^th January at Hotel Savera in Chennai. I was even more enthused & excited at what transpired during the course of the day.

The event kicked off with a key note address by Mr  John Baby CEO of funskool (India) Ltd. What was noteworthy was that unlike as in most conferences all the speakers of the day  were present and listened to the very illuminating key note address which  set the  tone for what was  to follow. He mooted the idea that like people, organizations are born and go  through the process of infancy,adulthood(maturity), old age & death.In this journey, some who are not agile die and do not reach adulthood. 

In the young age,the organization is characterized by direction & parent support, functional support from specialists, and rapid growth. In adulthood  the focus is on delegating authority, decentralization,diversification and team working.By old age the organization slows down on account of its having become larger in  size and  more complex in structure. Slow response, crisis of red tape and lack of motivation are other characteristics. From this stage many die while some revive, similar to a rebirth of an eagle.The eagle can live up to 70 years.At around 40 years its beak and talons become weak & old.It then goes up to the mountain and beats its beak and talons on the rock until they fall off. Then it waits for the new ones to grow back.With the new talons & beak  it can live for another 30 years.This is a very painful process but worth the effort since it means 3 decades more of life.Similarly, with some pain & effort organizations can regain its agility and extend its life.

After the key note address,there was  a tea break during which time, we the members of the panel  and the moderator,Ms Vidya Murali,Director Kubos consultancy services had a breief chat on what the flow would be and in which order we would speak. Vidya would give a brief introduction of the subject and invite the panel members to speak to be followed by interactive session.Apart from me from Hyundai, the other members of the panel included Mr Pawan Desiraju from Dell, Mr Ragaland Thomas from Shell,Mr A.Muralidharan from Amra associates and Mr G.T Sambandham from Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd.

Among other things what came through clearly  from the proceedings was that today, not only is there a need to be adaptable, speed is equally important. It is like a  triathlete champion who competes in swimming, sprints and cycling  requiring  not only the stamina but also speed, flexibility & technique in order to be successful. In business parlance this would mean exhibiting the  staying power to drive core business in the long run while being prepared to  shift focus fast as per requirement  to multiple kinds of business & quickly  execute at right time. It would also mean being highy innovative for achieving higher performance. Agile organizations with multiple locations would have the "non-negotiables" or core values  in the center with local units being given the freedom to be more responsive and adaptive to the local markets, customers and trends. Agility is about the ability to execute and not merely to strategize.Organization culture is the biggest challenge in creating an agile organization. HR has a big role in meeting this challenge.

One key aspect of this panel discussion was that all speakers spoke with examples from their own organizations. I shared  about our training initiatives in the area of core values, mind reprogramming exercises to imbibe new behaviour,developing collaborative culture through training programs etc The  other speakers gave examples from their own organizations viz Shell , Dell and  small scale sector.As for example Shell, when it started of was a sea shell  company which had the flexibility and agility to move into diverse areas like petroleum. Mr A. Muralidharan gave examples of Indian  organizations like Amul., Lijjat Pappad etc which exhibited the agility to adapt and thrive in the competitive environment. 

A lively discussion followed after the thoughts were  expresssed by the panelists and quickly summarized by Vidya, the moderator.What I found  as  refreshing  was that all the panelists involved in the discussion  as a single team. Often times we see in conferences  that a  question is addressed to a particular member of the panel and then the others tend to switch off thinking"well it is his baby.Let him answer." Here the members of the panel were paying rapt attention to what is being said by another member.There were instances of one person completing what he has to say and invited another panelist to add to it. The members of the panel were involved in a process of giving the best possible response as a team  to  questions.It is this quality of the proceedings that I shall long cherish.In fact I coveyed as much during lunch time to the head of the department of HRM , Ms Jayanthi Peters.  

It is seen that when professional bodies organize events, their first priority is to get sponsors. Then, it is to get big names who would be "too busy" to spend time beyond his or her presentation..In India, your prestige is also enhanced when you put on an  air of being  a  very busy person. Another thing I have noticed is that very rarely do people share their actual experiences as a  working professional They prefer to devote most of time in their presentation to theoretical stuff that would be available on the internet anyway. Whether by chance or design, when events like that of 'Symphony 2014' happen, it can set us thinking on the possibilities of how we could make our conferences, seminars and workshops more productive and meaningful which would be possible if we were to shift some of the time devoted to the hype, to the basic purpose of organizing an event.   



NB: For information on dealing with millennial employees, readers may like to read the blog below
https://hrdian.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-seminar-managing-millenial-employees.html

The West got it Wrong

In the eastern tradition it is always the collective that comes first.Individualism on the other hand is paramount in the western culture.As all the countries of the world are now increasingly influenced by the west, individualism has begun to dominate all aspects of life.

The joint family system with its merits & demerits have given way for nuclear families.The schools focus on competition & becoming toppers with little or very little focus on winning as a team and supporting each other.No wonder then, that in corporates the buzz word is talent management.The belief is that if we have counterparts of a Sachin Tendulkar or Virat kohli in our team,we cannot but succeed and that the other guys don't matter..In cricket matches it is quite obvious and we have seen it  many times , that all matches in which Sachin   hit a century  India did not win.It is only when other members also perform that a team wins.As results are not immediately known  as in a cricket match, corporates continue to function with this myth in place.All policies are accordingly formulated to develop and nurture'individuals".

In fact  performance appraisals are now being done on the percentile system, initially developed by an American university for assessing students and later replicated in corporates. This system compare employees with each other & assesses as to who among them are outstanding,good and who are average and below average.In a previous company which had this system in place, I have seen employees working with lot of expectations prior to the annual appraisals.Once the results are out, if they got a high rating or promotion they smile.If not,the chest caves in and for the next three months they just go through the motions unable to concentrate on the job.It takes a while for them to pick up the pieces and slowly move towards performing normally or enthusiastically.Towards the end of the year, it is  once again frenzied activities and high expectations.Then the appraisal results are out and the cycle continues depending on what rating a person got.

Similar responses from employees are observed in  other companies following the percentile and the bell curve in their appraisal system under which no matter how well they  perform, team members are essentially to be placed in a curve with some rated average or below average. While lip sympathy is extensively given to the word "team work" employees know that in the real world out there one has to be constantly be in competition to get ahead.Today, the right thinking people in the west have begun to question  the efficacy of the system for getting the best results.But it is the converts in the east who are die hard fans of the concept and feel that "everyone"including non performers would be rated as "Outstanding" by the assessor in the absence of safeguard provided by  the percentile system. When a GM(HR) told me this, I was wondering as to whether this situation did not  reflect more on our own competence as HR professionals.We are admitting here that we had recruited average or below average employees to start with.If this is not true and we had recruited an outstanding employee and he has now developed into an average employee,does it not tell more about us and the culture of our organization that turns gold into bronze?.

In the competitive mode team members tend to over estimate their contributions.Marshall goldsmith in his book"What got you here won't get you there" states "All of us in the work place delude ourselves about our achievements,our status & our achievements. We overestimate our contributions to a project, take credit for others work,have an elevated opinion of our professional skills and our standing among peers." People will exhibit that behaviour that is encouraged & recognized and not what we just talk about as important''. If we want our people to exhibit team behaviour, those who exhibit this behaviour needs to be honoured and  a teams'contribution assessed and awarded rather than an individual's. Training needs to focus on building skills of teams rather than as individuals.

It is high time that we stopped aping the west blindly but understand our own motivations and drives.This would mean looking out for and developing our own case studies instead of looking towards Harvard  university  for them. We may find then that contrary to the diet we have been fed for some time now, that we work best when winning as a team,when we are not rushing in a mad frenzy, looking over our shoulder all the time  to ensure that no one overtakes us. We may find that our calmness, clarity of purpose and collective desire to win is much more powerful than individual brilliance that does not have the support and cooperation  of other team members.