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.


  

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.