Fearless or Shameless?

The Burning Issue!

2011-12-10T12:13:00.002+05:30

Another tragedy – AMRI hospital in Kolkata, 80+ lives flamed due to the folly of the architects and designers. Sometime back a famous textile shop in Kerala was also gutted and millions of textile materials perished. Fire fighters struggled to put out the blaze, as the high rise glasshouse doesn’t have any access or parasols to the floors from outside. I still wonder how a textile/garment shop could avoid natural day light! One argument I heard from a designer is that to make the air-conditioning efficient they require restricting the day light. What an insult to green initiatives?

Another issue that requires pondering in all similar incidents is the lack of safety measures in such buildings. Business owner and the designer ignore the very basic fact that the building at a given time of the day holds people of all ages. Poor designing done by our engineers, architects and interior designers who give more impetus to the aesthetics overlook the functionality. It’s a crime when it comes to places like hospitals. While I was writing this the breaking news is that another fire episode in a Delhi based hospital.

Why blame the designers alone, equally involved in the crime are the authorities who were involved in certifying such buildings. When “money moves”, approvals will come automatically for a building that violates even the basic safety norms.

The role of management in such incidents is also worth commenting. How many of the admin/safety department executives regularly check the aspects like expiry or working condition of fire extinguishers or sprinklers in each floor (if such equipment are installed)? How many departments are having a routine checklist to ensure the proper functioning of smoke sensors? The fire exit, even if they are present, who will ensure that it is accessible and free of any blockade. As a Quality Auditor, I have witnessed companies who brag having ISO certifications don’t have such safety check procedures.

I remember an incident that happened to me during my early days in Kuwait. My first office was on the 12^th floor of a glasshouse in Kuwait City overlooking the Amiri Palace (home of late Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jabber). One evening, me and my colleague was putting extra hours beyond normal office hours to complete a task. Suddenly, there was a power outage (which is very unusual in Kuwait and that was the only time I experienced a power outage during my entire stay in many Gulf Countries). Simultaneously, fire alarms in the building started hooping. We both were first timers in Kuwait and never before got into such a situation in a high-rise building. We called our supervisor and he suggested leaving the building immediately. As we recalled the public awareness notification on our panoramic elevators we avoided using the elevators as we suspected there is a fire in the building. We started descending the stairs. That day I learnt that descending is not that easy as people say. Alas! The exit in the ground floor is locked! The caretaker (a human being, not mentioning the nationality) of the building who used to store his valuables (couple of dresses, utensils and some stale food) gave more importance to his possessions than the human beings trapped in the building. Surprisingly, we did not panic. Because we did not panic we thought of entering another office in the mezzanine floor and try the elevators. Lady luck was with us as the lift worked and we reached safely the ground floor. I still remember with a laugh the incident that followed our entrapment. My colleague who was also a Malayalee went ahead and verbally abused the caretaker. Thank God, the Arab did not understand even a single word as my friend used our Malayalam obnoxious vocabulary.

Recent episode of fire in a commercial and residential building near Vellayambalm, Trivandrum is another incident which went unnoticed. I still remember the fire brigade was commenting that due to the lack of easy accessibility to the floors, they struggled to extinguish the flames within a short timeframe. Luckily, the building was evacuated quicker and no lives were torched.

Such incidents should be an eye-opener to all. If we take appropriate action we can save lives. We should train even our school children on how to react on such situations (like Japanese train the kids to cope with earthquakes). I suggest real training on areas like first aid, emergency evacuation procedures and the like. In this initiative, NGOs can play a major role. NCC, Scouts and Guides, National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers and even our army personals could be utilized to undertake such trainings to students and the public. Earlier, there was a program aimed at auto-rickshaw drivers in our city. They were trained in first aid to save RTA victims. Nowadays I don’t know the plight of that initiative. Hope the innovative scheme is still on! Why can’t we link add-on certifications on first aid, emergency evacuation and the like with licensing or renewal of vehicle registrations?

I am not a great fan of the mock drills many government departments perform periodically to check the readiness. Why I disagree is that it involves only few people who are paid to do such disaster management functions. I am talking about a larger scale involvement, like compulsory training to all employees to equip them to manage such disasters at workplace and in their neighborhood. The hundreds of resident associations in our cities are also a good resource if utilized effectively. If periodic training is provided to the office bearers of such associations (train-the- trainer), they can in fact go and train other members. At least through such initiatives the role of the associations can be changed to “welfare of the members” than just playing the mere role of an event management team celebrating national and local festivities only.

Same goes with the most discussed issue of Mullaperiyar Dam. Do we have a disaster management plan if something of the scale we fear would happen? When the Hon. High Court inquired about the disaster management initiatives, government said we have more forces spread at the site and monitoring the dam round-the-clock. Technology is also utilized it seems. Good! Is that enough? Why we are not thinking about survival training for the people living in and around the area (and other districts that may get affected) on what to do if such a disaster happens? Is there an alarm system that would trigger automatically if any unusual movement happens to the dam structure or water level or seismic activities? People should be trained what to do and how to get saved. The disaster management cell in the state should call for a meeting of the people, governing bodies, police and all involved and discuss and make a “workable” emergency evacuation plan. Train the people; distribute pamphlets that describe the dos and don’ts when facing such an incident. We know average Malayalees give more importance to material possessions than anything else while trying to escape from a disaster scene. So if they waste time collecting their valuables during disaster struck moments, many precious lives may be lost. Some may say that if the dam breaks, we may not get enough time to act. Why are we so cynical? May be we may get few minutes which would be adequate to save at least few lives. It is not a crime to get prepared to face an emergency is my humble opinion. We get time to react or not are beyond our control. But preparation doesn’t hurt anyone right?

Way back in 2005-2006, when the allied forces invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein believing that he is having a huge collection of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), me and my wife was in Kuwait. Still the different warning alarm tones ring in our ears. Kuwait installed state-of the-art early warning systems that may go ‘live’ if any missile or similar projectiles approach our air space. Depending on the gravity of the incoming threat, the alarm tones differ. We learnt the true meaning of the word relief when we hear the “all clear alarm”. Kuwait government equipped all its residents in a very short time on how to get saved and save lives. They did not “assume” that if a chemical bomb was dropped, we don’t get time to react. As in a Hollywood movie, “assumption is the mother of all f******”is very apt for us.

As my younger kid is sick, I was unfortunate to visit regularly many star hospitals in Trivandrum. Due to “space constraint” none of them are having easy access to the fire exits too. Even the corridors are jam-packed with human beings and furniture most of the time. Poor design, unprofessional hospital space and resource planning, lack of systems and resources our star hospitals are in fact are standing disaster sites. We can also expect Kolkata like accidents in our hospitals or apartment complexes where aesthetics outweigh safety. I sincerely wish we will be more proactive in issues like this instead of wasting time in protests, effigy burnings, and channel discussions! Let’s have disaster free 2012! Happy New Year!

Your comments!

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit www.amazon.com

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

If you wish to contact the author write to rajit@probiz.co.in

If you are interested in any of our training programs, please visit www.centriq.co.in or www.probiz.co.in or email info@centriq.co.in

© stateoftheartconsulting 2011
The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, their owners or the webhosting companies.

Honey, You Need a Big Hug!

2011-12-03T12:40:00.000+05:30

Chetan Bhagat’s “Two States” was recommended by Dr. V. Raman Kutty. Well! Like other works of Chetan, this book also narrates the aspirations, love, and lust of middleclass broods getting higher education in high profile institutions in India. The magic of Chetan is that you will never get bored and strive to finish reading in one sitting. The mega hit movie 3 idiots is what made me a great fan of Chetan.

“Two States” narrates story of one north Indian boy and one south Indian girl, classmates falling in love. Their struggle to bring their families together and the precipitation of typical issues of the north-south divide is well narrated. The possessiveness, ego and superiority complex of both sides leading to clashes, and the efforts by the boy and girl to defuse it, move by moves makes the reader also part of the whole show.

This reminds me of the Malayalam movie Sasneham that narrates the story of a Hindu, Brahmin girl (acted by Shobhana) getting married to a Christian guy (by Balachandra Menon). Movie portrays typical issues faced by love marriages and later with the arrival of a child, the tussle between the two families to take ownership.

Is the situation different in arranged marriages in our place? The boy’s family’s plots to flex their muscles and to bring down the girl’s side are from day one. In some cases, such ‘ill treatments” happen from the girl’s family as well. Why? In case of arranged marriages, it is the two families who after many rounds of “discussions and spy work (if Hindu, then it requires clearance from the astrologer as well) agree to enter into the pact. Starting from the mandapam (where the wedding rituals are conducted), to the gifts received, ornaments, and wedding saree of the bride, the bridegroom’s side starts commenting and complaining. This is the tip of the iceberg. Immature mother-in-laws and sister-in-laws start comparing their lives and try to issue decrees or rules for even the married couple’s honeymoon trips.

I have witnessed similar attitudes shown by employees when we hire a new junior or senior employee to the department. The co-workers forgetting all work ethics and culture of the organization would try to pull down the new joiner and make his first day at work ‘memorable’.

Coming back to our families, if the bridegroom is an NRI (if he is on a low salaried job and can’t take his wife with him, then the girl had it for ages!) some in laws reserve such actions till the boy boards the aircraft. When I was in Kuwait, I have met many unfortunate husbands, who could not ‘save ‘their loving wives from the wretched hands of their families. One of my friends was forced to resign the job from the company and return home to save his wife from the hands of his mother. Fortunately, the guy completed his studies, earned a law degree and returned to gulf with his family. Now he is in Kuwait and leading a peaceful and dignified life.

Think about the state of the husband and wife in such situations. The torture is too much if geographies separate the couple. Why the divorce rate is so high in Kerala? I am sure it’s not because of issues between husband and wife, but factors triggered and fertilized by their families. If you zoom in definitely, the in-laws who are basically jealous and with high competition creates havoc in the lives of newly or long married couples. In few cases, poor boys also fell into the trap of “emotional hijacking” by their mothers and sisters. Systematically, the boy is reminded with the things these people have done when the boy was sick as a baby, when he broke his arm etc. If nothings works out the mothers would play the triumph card of crying.

Is this because of possessiveness or craziness? The devastation and trauma caused by such narrow minded and immature minds is huge and irreparable. If such drama is after the birth of say couple of kids, then the losers in the whole “bargain” are the kids. What did they do to suffer the separation agony? Even if it dint reach the courtrooms, the agonizing pain, such couples undergo is more than the tension, people residing in the villages of Mullaperiyar dam.

This is the grey side of our highly popularized Indian family values. When we are NRIs, this is a very good topic to “kill” time to brag and be ‘patriotic’. Also, we have a sort of false pride or fake satisfaction to narrate the age-old so-called family values and heritage in front of our western friends. The inside story nobody wants to talk or discuss. Even watching movies like “Sasneham” or reading books like “Two States”, we enjoy by overlooking similar or graver issues in our backyard.

Fortunately, my marriage was an arranged one. It’s not that I never had affairs, but most of such affairs were routed from the bud stage by my mom (she used to go to the girl’s family and create havoc there). In fact, it was a ‘curtain raiser’ for what was to come later. I am thankful to God for two things, for giving me a wonderful caring wife (Usha alias tittu) and for saving my ex-lovers from the ambush that waiting for them in my family. I married the girl whom my family chose and in fact met her 2 days before the actual wedding. Today even after many years of our union and in the process with two kids, my mom and my sister would still like to see us separated. Stories, traps, accusations and maligning my wife, mother of my kids continue till date. If my mom falls sick, it’s because of my wife, if my sister gets separated from her husband, it’s because my wife’s entry into our family and there goes the endless list. Another form of domestic violence! This is happening everywhere, if it is not in your family you are lucky, but scan around, you could witness similar cases tormented by our so-called ‘model families’, which the westerners are ‘dying to embrace’.

This is what we boast around the world, the Indian family values? These are typical symptoms of an immature society. Most of our people are naïve and carving for control over their children, even if they are grownups. This control starts from childhood, guiding through the paths and wishes of the parents and finally make their wards useless and with zero creativity. What we can do is not to behave like our parents and treat our children or their spouses like what our previous generation did to us. I know many will disagree but majority will silently agree and admire with what I have written. Thanks Chetan for the inspiration!

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit www.amazon.com

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

If you wish to contact the author write to rajit@probiz.co.in

If you are interested in any of our training programs, please visit www.centriq.co.in or www.probiz.co.in or email info@centriq.co.in

© stateoftheartconsulting 2011

The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, their owners or the webhosting companies.

What it takes to make a dent in the Universe?

2011-11-10T20:18:00.001+05:30

SteveJobs became an inspiration for me since 1992, the year I completed my post graduation. Like any other trainer, Steve was my all time favorites while teaching or mentoring entrepreneurs. Even though he had a rollercoaster life and like any other entrepreneur, he also had ups and downs in his career/life still he succeeded in “making a dent in the universe”. His products will be the standing monuments for his creativity and ingenuity.

For the past couple of months, I have visited many colleges as part of my academy’s (www.centriq.co.in) marketing campaign. Ever since I returned from the GCC, I had taken this as a mission to talk to youngsters and try to inspire or change their attitudes and habits. I take them through “What’s next?”- a 45 minute session on career planning, CV preparation, interview tips (which they won’t get from any books or online) and practical tips on how to change their attitude, thinking and approach to life.

Passion to inspire youngsters has its roots way back in late 90s. During that time, I used to recruit candidates for various positions for industries in the GCC countries. The agony was when I meet Malayalee candidates. Even the candidates with the top academics failed many times due to their inability to express or impress or even to convey their ideas or present themselves during these interviews (without any exaggeration).

Instead of sitting and blaming the education system (it’s already rotten, I need to state) I thought of reaching out to these kids to stimulate and enhance their soft skills. Incorporating the basics like oral and written communication skill, critical thinking ability, problem-solving resourcefulness, ability to work productively on a team, I came up with a program called ProSkill™. As coaching and mentoring is my income, the complete version of this program is offered with a small fee through our academy.

The abridged version of this program (called the ProSkill™ mini) is offered free to colleges and other institutions (even though people like Dr. Rajmohan Pillai warned me not to cheapen the product by making it a giveaway). I preferred to give this freebie to general under graduate and graduate students as they top the list of unemployable job seekers (survey by Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India in April 2011). Having said that, I was surprised to learn that except our MBA students (I still object the curriculum taught in the so-called B-Schools), even the students in other professional colleges also lack such skills.

Trivandrum is one of the places on this wonderful planet where there is too much of concentration of skeptics. They are skeptical to new ideas, new courses, and entrepreneurs. The only “event “, majority of them welcome is the ‘fairs’. One such example, Rajasthan Fair - for the past God only knows when, is running in different locales in the city, with the same merchandise, the same people; the same format/layout was thronged by hundreds of people. They purchase or not, they visit the stalls, consume chilli bajji (now mulag bajji taking over from parotta), buy for their kids the so-called ice creams (which in reality is frozen desserts) and “fake” enjoyment. The other place where our crowd becomes frenzy is the recently launched textile giants.

I was more surprised, when some of the departments and colleges in and around the city declined to allow a slot for ProSkill™ program, even though our marketing team clearly portrayed the advantages. In spite of the fact that this program was offered with no frills attached. So like most of our parents, even the teachers and college management officials are skeptics. Why they don’t promote any initiative that would make their students little more creative? Is the word creativity an alien terminology in this part of the world?

Then why blame our kids for their lack of interest?

By teaching general and obsolete curriculum we are ensuring that our students will be unemployable (most of them end up in selling telephone lines, insurance products, MLM products based on commission). Very few may take up research to end up in the academic cadre and repeat the same vicious cycle.

This place is hell for students unless s/he is a genius or smart enough to be guided and get certified that may fetch quality jobs. Very lucky may chase their passion and succeed in ending up in quality avenues that matches their skills.

During my sessions with the college students, I was shocked to know that they don’t read. They don’t read newspapers, books and don’t even have a library membership (still I brood over the British Council Library, every time I pass through YMCA premises, nostalgia pops up with a sigh! Mr. Subramoni’s welcoming smile and the feel of the carpet still lingers). In fact, many admitted that they enjoy watching TV reality shows and serials.

Another group is very fond of extended sleeping. I remember when I was in college I used to sleep less than 5 hours (doctors may differ) and my leisure time was spent on books or listening to radio. At that time, radio played a very important role in modeling our lives. Listening to BBC, Voice of America, Radio Ceylon and AIR not only improved the languages (English, Hindi and Malayalam) but also made me more creative. Imagination was a prerequisite while listening to radio documentaries and that encouraged creativity.

This generation is having hundreds of excuses starting from lack of money to buy books or time or blame that too much to study. For the new generation kids, the antidote I would suggest (for both teachers and students)would be try to get a copy of Edward DeBono’s book – “Creativity Workout - 62 Exercises to Unlock your Most Creative Ideas”. This book provides many exercises and suggestions to create a creative mind. In addition, to keep your mind engaged continuously.

I am sure we have many hidden geniuses like Steve Jobs in our backyard, but to bring them to the spotlight, and to polish them to shining diamonds, we need collective initiatives from all sides. To make a dent in the Universe may be too much to ask (at this time), but at least we can make an attempt. As the Chinese saying goes, the journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step!

Aptly, Steve Jobs reminds us, (youngsters), “Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish!”

I hope to see light at the end of the tunnel, soon!

Your thoughts!

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit www.amazon.com

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

If you wish to contact the author write to rajit@probiz.co.in

If you are interested in any of our training programs, please visit www.centriq.co.in or www.probiz.co.in or email info@centriq.co.in

© stateoftheartconsulting 2011

The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, the

Summer in Kerala! Part II

2011-04-08T16:06:00.000+05:30

(Continued from Part I)

Many colonies and residential areas in the City already started getting hit by drinking water scarcity. The main pipe that brings water to the city, without fail, seeped (in larger magnitudes) more than 10 times in the first quarter of the year. One of the prime sites in the city went off without water for more than 2 weeks. Surprisingly, the area is inhabited with High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), policymakers, bureaucrats and so on. Still, their political clout or their influence could make our system ‘work’ to find a venerable solution to this problem.

Having access to potable water is one of the basic rights of the citizens. The Japanese sponsored project after creating chaos in our lives is yet to takeoff. Yet many roads and by lanes are in pathetic condition and are the standing monuments of stupidity of our planning and execution. If the responsible department could not arrive at a permanent solution to prevent the recurrent water leakage, it is not demeaning to involve other local agencies to suggest a solution. Even involving students from our Engineering colleges in the city is also a good option to explore. With all sincerity I thank and admire Travancore Maharaja for his vision that commissioned the City Water Project. Still many parts of Trivandrum city gets uninterrupted water supply from the same channels planted decades ago by the Maharaja (even though the population of the city reached new heights now). Our engineers may at least explain how those pipes serving us from the time of Maharaja still resist all ‘pressures’ to burst.

Even though the subject I am about to mention has no seasonal influence, still I would like to share my experience and thoughts with my readers. For the past many months, I was forced (unfortunate) to visit couple of hospitals in the private sector in the city, both as a patient and as family head. Both these hospitals I visited, brags that they are the best and largest and provides the latest medical care through state-of the-art facilities. As a person who had the opportunity to see and experience quality medical care in one of the Gulf States, both in the private and public sector, naturally my consultant mind always tries to compare and benchmark with what I was exposed to. To start with I want you to agree with me that we pay more to get better care and quality treatment.

The designs of our hospitals are definitely not done from a user angle (patient’s angle). The arrogance or ignorance (or both) of our architects, designers and facility planners are evident in the designs of most of our private hospitals. ‘Cost effective’ is the term they often use to cover their inanity. At least the areas where the out patients have access rather where the patients spend more time while in the hospital (like the Outpatient registration, consulting, waiting areas) should incorporate some ‘user-friendly’ elements.

I am yet to understand how our designers arrived at the number of lifts required in each block. The size and capacity of the lifts provided, beats all common sense. The location of pantry is another debatable question. One of the hospitals in question with its misplaced location of kitchen ensured that all the visitors could get a ‘feel’ of the menu for the day. When I quizzed one of the directors, he said “normally hospitals have pungent cleanser or disinfectant odor, but our hospital provides aroma of food, isn’t it good?” I appreciate this ‘innovative thinking’ of the director who spelled hospital’s strategy to provide the food court experience inside a super specialty hospital.

Another example of such an ‘innovation’ I experienced was from the waiting area of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Out Patient department. The waiting crowd is forced to get up from their chairs every now and then to ‘make way’ for the in-patient convoy either in stretchers or wheel chairs. This is another example of poor planning or may be ‘innovation’ of someone who chose this corridor as the main highway as part of their ‘marketing strategy’. This may pose many risks and inconveniences for both the inpatients and outpatients. The decision to accommodate more chairs in such narrow corridor may also contribute in highlighting the design faults.

It is worth mentioning about the hospital etiquettes and crowd behavior of Malayalees. Usage of mobile phones inside consulting areas and wards is unpardonable. Most of the OP visitors have untreated ‘importance syndrome’. The major symptom of this syndrome is talking loudly or laughing in high decibels. They feel that this quality is required to get attention or importance from others. I think people out here take hospital visit as a leisurely pursuit. Five people accompanying one patient are nothing but total absurdity. Public Relations in the Private hospitals should create awareness against such ‘medical tourism”. What makes my adrenalin pump more is when I see the entire gang occupies the chairs which are again spread without any calculation or planning. Without any exaggeration we could witness most of the patients standing as the ‘mob’ of couple of patients sitting and enjoying the agony of those standing.

Another strange observation by this ignorant consultant is regarding the number of Ultrasound machines these private hospitals are having. I don’t cry that every O&B doctor to have one (which is the standard in many hospitals elsewhere), but at least couple of dedicated machines accessible for the consultants, labor rooms and O&G wards. What I understood is that many of these hospitals are either promoted or managed by doctors retired from the government services. As they come from such frugal environment of facilities, anything more than the normal or the benchmark they were exposed to is like boon or heaven. Outside the box thinking is what is required here. I don’t expect much from the older generation but at least those youngsters who are in the government service and who would choose the private sector to continue their second innings should tune their minds to be more innovative rather be the brand ambassadors of a bad heritage.

This is why I always prescribe Clayton Christensen's book “Innovator’s Prescription”. Also, I am a fan of an Indian author G.D. Kunders who authored “Hospitals – Facilities Planning and Management”.

By having limited facilities and catering to unmanageable crowd, the management itself is opening doors for the private sector doctors to become ‘corrupt’ or create unholy alliances with the third party service providers (hawks)like scan centers or diagnostic laboratories. Doctors are forced (sometimes) to send their patients to nearby scan centers whose business strategy is crafted around such doctors both in the government and private sector. It happens only in India I should say! The commission percentage arrangement between the doctor and the third-party scan centers or labs are GAN (Generally Accepted Norms) in our place. If a government sector doctor takes the same liberty and got caught then he/she will be disgraced and labeled as corrupt and anti-social. At the same time, when a private hospital doctor prescribes a scan/test and guides the patient to a particular service provider outside the premises, then it is not treated in the same way. This is double standards.

In my view, this act is more immoral as the doctor is already being paid (or based on commission) well in the private hospital setting. Still the doctor is not utilizing the internal facility and ‘earning’ additional income. Even if you may cite the lack of facilities in the private hospital (which is strange and unacceptable) as I narrated before, still it is unethical. Why we pay more is to get a well-rounded service from one site. It is unfair to send the patients elsewhere especially during this hot summer. Unruly traffic and the pain to find parking spots add more agony.

I may need another blog to write about the attitude and ‘customer care’ of these third-party service providers. Unorganized and unprofessionally managed scan centers in the city treat their clients as if the clients are there to get some free service from them. If we complain about government hospital employees’ (the support staff, mainly) attitude and affinity to make some quick bucks (civilized people term this as bribes) then who will record the unethical and uncivilized behavior and the likes of these third-party scan center employees.

For the records, I need to say not all of them are bad; from my personal experience there is at least one in the city which is managed professionally; the staff is trained to smile, greet and care their clients too. I am not trying to glorify the government sector but still we, malayalees have a problem. We tend to highlight the bad side of the government sector. But when it comes to private sector we will happily absorb and accept all the bad treatment and unethical behaviors with a smile and that too after paying a hefty amount. Is it an enigma or I am affected by the heat and dust?

If you missed Part I of this article, please click here

Kindly post your valuable comments.

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit http://www.amazon.com/

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

If you wish to contact the author write to stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2011

The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, their owners or the webhosting companies.

Summer in Kerala! Part I

2011-04-08T15:57:00.002+05:30

This is my first blog in 2011. It is not that the New Year was great and I found harmony with things happening around me. On the other hand, I was venting my frustrations, views and thoughts through tweets (Twitter) and Facebook (FB). What I don’t like about twitter is the restriction of the number of words that always force me using sms language. Sometimes I feel that tweets drain-off the real countenances. On the contrary, FB allows me to be more elaborative and the hyperlinking very practical. The note function in FB is very useful as well. Objective of this blog is not to compare the pros and cons of online social media tools.

Trivandrum city is sweltering under the April sun. Watermelon vendors occupying vantage points in the main roads are a common sight. Thanks to our neighboring agriculture friendly state, Tamil Nadu for cultivating and ‘exporting’ such juicy watermelons to Kerala so that we can quench our thirst. Keralites over the years ‘identified’ and discriminated ‘low-status’ jobs and ignored fields like agriculture, mason, plumbing and carpentry. Those who have coconut groves in Kerala (a rarity) are now struggling to find experts to ‘harvest’ coconuts. Those who have paddy fields find it very difficult to get local workers for farming related activities too. The farmers are depending on workforce from other states. Like any other expatriate workforce, these workers also are hard workers and demand less than their local compatriots. Social issues (theft, atrocities against woman etc.) posed by the increasing expatriate population is the price we need to endure.

State assembly election is another major happening in the state now. Noise pollution, colorful flex boards, posters and wall writings definitely grab attention not only the highly educated and learned voters but also the attention of the vigilant election commission’s team who is keeping an eye on the candidates’ expenses. I am not sure whether Keralite voters’ judgment of a candidate is based on the number of posters or wall writings or even the roadside election meetings. For a change this time, many candidates and political parties started using social media as part of their election strategy. During last couple of weeks, artists, flex board printers, parody writers and musicians, the web designers and creative consultants had great time, as candidates and their agents queued to get their strategies converted into presentable works. TV channels are also enriching their bottom lines as their paid spots and news hours are easily populated with different election or candidate related stories. The impressive event during the last week related to election is the Stage Show by the world renowned Magician Gopinath Muthukad. Using magic as a medium, Muthukad tried to create awareness among the voters to cast their franchise.

As I tweet before, I am yet to apprehend the strategy of our political parties to tap the Non Resident Indian (NRI) vote bank. For the first time, NRIs are provided with this opportunity. Unlike the US or Philippines systems, NRI’s physically presence to cast vote in his own constituency in the State is required. How many NRIs can afford to fly to his hometown just to cast his/her vote in support of his/her political ideology is a question to ponder. Even if the NRI may be able to organize his annual vacation at this time to participate in the democratic process, the exorbitant air ticket prices may spoil his/her plans. Hope in future the NRIs can cast their votes either at the Indian Missions or as we claim that we are technologically advanced the policymakers may consider online voting option. Till then NRIs will be treated as “Not Required Indians”!

My last summer blog emoted my feelings against using Elephants for our temple processions (Please read Bold and the Beautiful). Like previous years, elephants who could not withstand the extreme heat, physical torture (in different formats like standing for long hours with idols on top midst of zillions of cheering or jeering ‘devotees’ and deafening decibels of fire crackers )went amok and killed many Mahouts and created chaos during these festival season as well. Mind you, elephant was declared as a heritage animal by the Government last year. However, still the policymakers are clever enough to have clauses in a ‘diplomatic way’ without hurting the feelings of the large vote bank. None of the candidates raised their voice against this cruelty which is still practiced in the name of God and tradition. It’s high time we need to think rationally to come up with alternatives both for using elephants and bursting fire crackers. For this we need strong leaders, forward thinking politicians and religious or spiritual leaders/groups and supportive policymakers. I am sure Gods will bless in double-fold all those who would come up with such a decision. As we self-proclaim that we are inhabitants of God’s Own Country, let’s do some justice!

(Continued in Part II)

Kindly post your valuable comments.

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

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Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

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© stateoftheartconsulting 2011

The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, their owners or the webhosting companies.

“Father Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do!”

2010-12-09T16:09:00.000+05:30

The metro man of India, E. Sreedharan is a technocrat who has a magic wand that converted impossibility to possibility. All the projects he managed were realized ahead of time and budget. A rarity in India, especially when it comes to government owned or government supported/participated civil projects. From Pamban Bridge (that connected Rameshwaram to mainland Tamil Nadu.), Konkan Railways (railway line which runs along the Konkan coast of India) and Delhi Metro are few milestones that would stand tall as a monument of success for Mr. E. Sreedharan. After his illustrious and extended career, he is now planning to spend his retirement life in Kerala! In a recent interview with Mathrubhumi daily, Mr. Sreedharan aptly pointed out that our education system in the state is showing signs of quality degradation. This is a valid observation from an engineer who through his technical know-how, expertise and project management acumen proved to Indians that things can be done within timeframe and that too within budget. What made him say this?

Since early 90s the city (Trivandrum, India) witnessed an unprecedented mushrooming of schools (KG to class 12) in the private sector. Having more schools, if managed properly is a good initiative. Schools providing quality education and with good facilities for children should be appreciated. How many of those falls under this category may not require much survey. A drive within the city limits you could see schools running in rented buildings even without adequate parking or even drop off and pick up facilities. Not to say much about the facilities for the children inside. To send their wards to such cramped environment every morning in the midst of traffic and potholed filled roads dampens the day for both the kid and the parent or the driver. Lack of qualified and talented teaching staff in such schools are doing damage than good. Few schools, being “cost effective”, are employing unqualified and amateur housewives as teachers (this I have witnessed in Indian schools in the Gulf Countries too). Basic prerequisites to become a teacher in such accredited/affiliated schools like Montessori for KG and BEd or MEd with graduate or postgraduate degrees are blatantly violated. The shocking part is that such bad practices are followed by schools that have recognition or affiliation from central boards. How such schools continue to get affiliated or recognized by these Boards is a puzzle. Do they manipulate school records and obtain recognition or do they influence the auditors or inspectors by “sponsoring” stay at star hotels or holiday trips, needs to be investigated by our smart journalists in both print and electronic media.

Recently, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) through a circular instructed all the affiliated schools to set aside time for physical education and sports activities for students of all classes. Those who would like to access the entire circular please visit CBSE website and check for CBSE/Sports/2010-2011/Cir.No. 71. The gist of the circular is as follows:

“The Board is of the firm opinion that the Physical Education & Sports programs teach important conflict resolution skills including team work, fair play and communication leading to reduced violent behaviour among children. Further, children who participate in Physical Education & Sports develop a positive attitude towards their everyday life activities.

In the above background, it is advised that the following in respect of the Physical Education & Sports may be strictly adhered to:

a. There should be at least 40-45 minutes of Physical Activities or Games period for Classes I-X everyday.

b. For Classes XI – XII it should be ensured that all the students participate in Physical Activity / Games / Mass P.T / Yoga with maximum health benefits for at least two periods per week (90-120 min / week).

c. In case the school has constraints of space, climatic conditions, presence of enough PE Teachers, or coaches it may consider indoor activities which would provide maximum health benefits (Aerobics / Meditation / Yoga & Asanas).

d. Mass P.T. in the morning keeping in view the climate conditions is another alternative the school can have.

This is a welcoming move from CBSE. However, who will ensure that the schools are following their “command” or “demand”? Many schools utilize the play area/ground for their fleet parking during school hours. In some schools, growth would be measured in terms of newer buildings that encroaches the playground too. If this happens in private sector then how can the government run schools lag behind? City’s one of the oldest schools, SMV Higher Secondary School’s is having a mini stadium outside and behind the school premises as play area. Earlier there was a pond called Manjalikulam, later it was sand filled to convert it into a stadium and aptly renamed as Velayudan Thampi Stadium in recognition of the services of the school’s former Head Master. I am sure citizens of this city may not know the new name as the area is still addressed as Manjalikulam. This playground gets engaged for other activities like festival bazaars, trade shows, drama stage etc. As SMV School does not come under the CBSE purview, the school does not have to bother much about the circular and it can’t disobey instructions from the government departments either.

Coming back to CBSE circular, the immediate response from Principals of some schools in city was not that promising as they narrated the difficulties to adhere to such a demand. As quoted in The Hindu daily, they all welcomed the initiative but admitted that it is very difficult to accommodate such a demand due to lack of time. They said, it is a race against time to finish the syllabus in an academic year. If the Principals’ complain that they find it very difficult to teach the syllabus in an academic year, then our curriculum developers and educators should be blamed. Bombarding the children with too much of ‘knowledge’ and activities beyond their capabilities and age will do damage than good. We are driving the children brain fatigued. On top of the school demands, children needs to attend tuitions (which has become a fad), and sometimes extracurricular activities like classes for music, painting, dancing etc. I have personally listened to parents of KG complaining that their kids are not memorizing anything. Concern on studies is good, but at an age of 4, we are encouraging the students to just memorize to get good marks or a grade is really bad.

We can’t blame the parents as we are living in a country where education and higher grades are valued more than life. What value addition such an education would bring in for the students and the society? Many people may argue that this is the best system for our students. I am not in a mood to argue or prove that our universities are just degree vending machines. Rather, I would like to ask one simple question if this system is that good, then why many of our undergraduate and even MBA students fail in interviews on a national or international level? Academically most of them are unquestionably high caliber. Even logic wise they are good, but when it comes to express their ideas they fail. Again, they fail to face the modern business challenges and sometimes challenges in life too, why? So education should not only prepare the children to achieve good grades and jobs, but also should equip them to face todays and future business challenges. In my personal experience, students with brilliant academics tremble if asked to present an idea or to address a small crowd. They lack confidence mainly because they are not sure about their language skills, they can’t logically arrange ideas and present. This is because their thinking abilities are stalled by or overridden by memorizing commands and techniques. Here not only the curriculum, the mode of instruction, the assessment system, quality of the teachers and importantly parents need to be blamed. In a taut, overburdened life, the children couldn’t find time to cultivate reading habits. Television and video games occupy some time which warrants for little or no creativity.

Teachers should also be given opportunities to continuously and periodically enrich and update their knowledge. I wonder how old teachers could teach newer subjects and topics. Refresher courses on their domain area, training on language and soft skills should be addressed. Even teachers with higher degrees, lack proper English phonetics and children learning from them will end up acquiring bad spoken English. I strongly believe that government teachers get better opportunity to upgrade or enrich their knowledge through state education department sponsored programs. They show more dedication to their work as well. By this I don’t say that teachers in the private schools don’t have commitment and dedication, but majority private school management through their wrong policies make the teachers behave like employees in a private sector company, where the frustration level is very high due to bad management, bad compensation and bad treatment. Teachers in such environments, even if they are highly qualified and skilled, will reflect their frustrations in their teaching.

Teacher’s performance should be annually evaluated based on a well defined system along with an audit of the school. The evaluation of teachers should be based on 360 degree perspective in which students, peers and supervisors besides the incumbent should be consulted during the evaluation. For the audit of the schools, a public private partnership independent authority will be a practical solution and the ambit of the audits should be covering all schools operating in our state’s soil even if it is affiliated to a national board or an international body.

Having said this, I agree that there is no simple or quick fix for these issues. Series of roundtables with active participation of policymakers, educators, teacher representatives, student representatives, strategists, consultants, child psychologists should be able to arrive at some solution over a period of time. As all agree that we are good in articulation but very poor in implementation, let us try to make a difference. If we make a move now, we could save our future generations!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit http://www.amazon.com/

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

If you wish to contact the author write to stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

The views expressed in this blog (Fearless or Shameless?) are based on the author’s personal views at the time of commenting on a particular topic. The views may subject to change based on the situation and circumstances and at a given period of time author’s thinking and views and perceptions may change and such changes may not be conveyed to the readers. Readers should not apply or rely on the statements or comments or the content of the blog to their personal or professional arena unless verified and authenticated by the author or with any similarly competent and experienced consultant(s). Further, the author has no control over the external links and its contents and cannot guarantee its availability, genuineness and its accuracy. Further, the author is not responsible for any copyright infringements or intellectual rights violations by those websites, their owners or the webhosting companies.

Are You Socially Responsible?

2010-08-13T10:33:00.000+05:30

Two stories recently got my attention and really made me ask the question how many of us and our companies are socially responsible?

The first story is about Indian cricketer Anil Kumble, who is the vice chairman of State Board for Wildlife, adopted a cobra at the Bannerghatta Biological Park as part of the animal adoption drive. The two-month-long drive is aimed at raising awareness among citizens, particularly the youth, about how they can contribute towards wildlife conservation. Organized by The Samhita Academy, Green Matrix organization and the Bannerghatta Biological Park, the drive aims at raising funds for food, healthcare and new enclosures. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Kumble-shows-the-way-adopts-cobra/articleshow/6258567.cms ).

Inspired by this news I recently visited the Trivandrum Zoo. I was flabbergasted seeing the current plight of the zoo. Lots of promises, unfinished programs, and projects fill the emptiness of this zoo. Hope Trivandrum zoo authorities will get inspired from the adoption initiative of Bannerghatta Biological Park! Till the early 80s Trivandrum used to have a state-of-the-art aquarium. I have a faint memory of the aquarium. Conflicts between the university and other departments affected its day-to-day functioning and maintenance. Unfortunately, other than newspapers there was no other media as today to create hype and get the authorities’ attention. Today, Trivandrum aquarium is history and you can see the remnants of the building near the Shankumugham Beach.

The second inspiring story is about the floating schools in Bangladesh. As CNN reports the boat makes its way along winding rivers in muddy villages as students wait on dock. Each boat is well equipped than the schools on land. The teacher: student ratio is about 30 students per teacher -- for up to four hours a day, six days a week. In a country with floods round the year, education for children is next to impossible. Such an innovative eco-solution is now rewriting the future of at least 180,000 students. The program, the brain child of architect-turned-activist Mohammed Rezwan is determined to prove that Bangladeshis can survive the climate change scenario, in which land steadily vanishes beneath relentlessly rising water, by staying afloat. There are places in Kerala and elsewhere in India, where land is connected to the main land only through small boats. Needless to say that in such places, schooling gets tougher during the monsoon season. Why can’t we in Kerala and elsewhere in India think about having similar innovative ideas that would ensure uninterrupted schooling for children hailing from such places?

In the changing economic paradigm, innovative ideas and implementation through participation of both the Public and Private sector entities (Public Private Partnership (PPP)) is the only solution for many problems for countries like India. Kerala always boasts about the IT literacy and infrastructure. Technoparks and similar IT initiatives are standing monuments of our little but notable success stories. When it comes to PPP, the Cochin International Airport still should be a number one driver to have more such initiatives. This is where I always wonder why Kerala needs a non Indian partner to drive the Smart City project? Do we not trust our capabilities or do we undermine our IT professionals or do we doubt financial backing of our corporate houses?

As part of my Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) through the ProBiz Skill program recently launched Soft Skills training (one-day) program for final year graduate students of select colleges in Trivandrum.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ISR should come from inside. Government’s move to go ahead with action warranting companies to have CSR programs is a commendable. Importance of CSR should be taught in B Schools and should be an agenda in Leadership programs. When it comes to individuals, it requires a mindset complementing with compassion and a desire to return a part to the society. US President John F. Kennedy’s famous inaugural speech makes sense in this context “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". Let us have a socially responsible generation! Let that be our pledge for this year’s Independence Day!

Kindly post your valuable comments!

The e-book version of Fearless or Shameless first 25 blog articles is now available for purchase in PDF format at http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-rajit-karunakaran-nair-fearless-or-shameless

To purchase “Making of a Sensible Consultant!” visit http://www.amazon.com/

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

If you wish to contact the author write to stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

Who Will Bell the Cat?

2010-05-23T21:08:00.005+05:30

For the past couple of weeks, I had to put to test all the time management principles and techniques I have learned, practiced and preached. Still, I was away from the blogosphere . Importantly, I have learned the hardship of an entrepreneur, especially in a state, where entrepreneurs are treated as an outcast. Even though I was not expecting a ‘road paved with roses’ still, as a state boasting of 100% literacy, some decency, elfin transparency, and modest common sense was expected. Kerala seems to welcome only IT or ITES based companies as the hype created by the technoparks and other hi-profile establishments made the rulers, civil administrators and the masses carried away. In addition, I feel that the ruling leftist government also strives hard to prove to their adversaries that unlike in the past, now they also embrace the technological advancements. Good for all!

In such a backdrop, it is very difficult to find investors for other businesses in the state. The local investors or investor ‘wannabes’ to my surprise are either high school dropouts or uneducated, but loaded with liquidity and with poor investment knowledge. This sleeping fortune if brought into the main stream of the economy may boost the state’s failing economy. As predicted, such people are also interested in IT as they read, listen and inhale this mantra on a daily basis. Further, they think this is the ‘secret door’ to glamour, glory and maybe to amass some more money. The only objective is to get a ‘wildcard entry’ to the High Net Worth Individual’s club. I think the mindset of the Keralites is still very primitive, as I narrated the ‘tattukada’ copying syndrome earlier in my blog “The Cloning Business!” Our people are known to photocopy successful business models, many win, but the majority fails. After all, everybody can’t be a Bill Gates, right?

During my silence, ‘Malluwood’ became more turmoil and now seem to reach a truce as the Minister (Mr. M.A. Baby) intervened and convened a meeting of all involved. The good side of the entire screenplay as I see is that like any other upheaval, the truth precipitates as the big guns fire. Veteran producer Suresh Kumar in an interview indicated that Malluwood is controlled by the Superstars and they or their protégés surrounding the superstars interfere in every phase of a movie production starting from the script. This reminds me the scene from the super hit movie “Udayananu Tharam” which narrates the behind-the-curtain- scenes of movie making. (Please watch the clipping, sorry it’s in Malayalam). If someone says that a movie is director’s craft, then they should be be addressed as a turncoat!

Hope the ego clashes will end and the industry will continue to feed hundreds of others for whom this is their only living. A well maintained movie hall (Parthas Theater), categorized as A class cinema theatre in Trivandrum drew its curtain last evening. The movie exhibiting is also part of the movie industry that for the past many years is struggling to stand tall against the increasing power tariff and empty seats. The lack of footfall at the movies made based on superstars and others objectives is killing this segment as well. A journey from Trivandrum to Cochin will give you a clear picture of how many A, B and C class theaters are either converted to marriage halls or community halls or shopping malls. The other unfortunates are just locked and ignored and left for the nature’s forces to bring it down to dust. When I was a child I always wanted to own a theatre, but now I even hate to sit and watch a movie which has the same story, same shots, same actors and the same climax.

Many companies also harbor such superstars that drive the organization to foreclosure or bankruptcy with their naïve ideas and programs or simply with their stupidity. In such an organization, the team will not have any role in the future of the organization or even own future. When a movie flops in the theatre, nobody will take the responsibility including the Superstars. The financial loss will be only for the producer. Likewise, when an organization shutters, the ‘Superstar’ will wash their hands and the investors will be at the receiving end.

Corporate frauds are on the rise, reports KPMG in a recent study in India (The New Indian Express, April 24, 2010). The survey says that the absence of an effective control mechanism, the quantum of corporate frauds increased manifold compared to the study conducted in 2008. As I wrote previously, Corporate Governance is still evolving and an absolute implementation in our corporate houses is still a challenge. Awareness is the major issue, as I stated in the beginning, we have school dropouts as Investors, in the Board, who may not know what is Corporate Governance or the importance of being ‘transparent’. Regulators should spend more time, money and effort to inculcate this before making it mandatory. Filling up of forms and submitting or publishing falsified financials on the net is not impossible these days.

An independent organization totally dedicated to outreach to the corporate world, including conducting awareness campaigns, training and even Corporate Governance auditing should be established. An example of such an institute is Hawkamah, The Institute of Corporate Governance, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The irony in our country is that, if such an institute is established, immediately the government machinery or the ministry in charge will opt for a political appointment for the head of the institution, either a politician himself will chair or a bureaucrat ‘darling’ of the ruling party or the minister will assume office. Transparency should start from home and such acts will kill the good objective in its infancy itself.

For all such strategic changes, we need political will and support, qualified program leaders, experienced consultants and support from both the business community and common people. All these are possible only if there is adequate awareness on the importance of transparency and compliance. Who will take the initiative, only the Supreme Power may know?

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2010

Are You Smarter than a Kindergartner?

2010-04-26T07:52:00.002+05:30

Another summer vacation in Kerala and you could see children of ages everywhere, even on the main roads, either cycling or playing in the hot sun. As most of their parents may be working and none is there to control their daily activity, the streets, the empty lots and everywhere are getting populated by them. Those who could afford summer camps or summer schools, engage their kids in extracurricular activities like singing (high demand for singers due to the reality shows like Idea Star Singer in local channels), drawing, clay modeling, instrumental music and lot more. Some choose to leave their wards to little more specialized programs like spoken English, personality development, Vedic mathematics etc. Different institutes offering different programs and its harvest time for the ‘service providers’.

The truth is that very few institutes are professionally run and most of them are just looting money for no reason. The main objective of the parents to engage the kids in such summer harbors is just to keep them away as in most cases nobody is available for ‘babysitting”. So the parents impose on their children an option other than the typical school routine. For some, this is the only option to manage boisterous kids who give the parents or caretakers hard time. This helplessness of the parents is what these institutes exploit for making quick bucks. In olden days, Keralities were known for their joint family living, where babysitting was never an issue. Also, kids in the joint living will always find company of their contemporaries and summer vacations were real fun.

Since we drifted away from such a system and embraced flat/apartment dwelling and opted for nuclear family way of living, the kids started losing their childhood and their innocence. The isolation naturally brings in more tension for the parents too. If it is a girl child, then the fear and anxiety is beyond imagination as we read or watch lots of girl child abuse stories in the media. Therefore, parents do not have many options other than to take the risk by leaving them unsupervised at home or leave them at summer camps/schools.

The question is how professional are our summer schools and their programs. The irony is that many daycare centers, out of greed, conduct summer programs without any proper homework. It is noticeable that the normal schools in Kerala are not running such summer shows, even though many have the infrastructure, facilities and trained faculty. My son is also in one such summer class and recently he questioned the teacher when he was asked to write the alphabets. His objection was that writing is part of normal school and summer school is only for playing. His innocent remarks prompted us to take up the matter to the summer camp coordinator and the ‘curriculum’ was amended immediately. This is a real life example of lack of preparation or inexperience of such institutes, which boasts many years of meritorious experience in conducting such summer programs. They all think that summer classes are just an extension of the normal school routine. This may work for higher-grade students, but it is very cruel when it comes for kindergartners. The failure here is that no school management thinks from a kid’s angle. They think only from the target angle to make profits. To engage kids for 5-8 hours is not an easy task, when it is not a real school routine is what they all say, when you question them. I still believe that by just putting in extra effort, you can engage kids with more fun filled sessions, even with the limited resources available.

Starting from kindergarten, such adjustments are evident. That’s why our education system, unfortunately, is creating followers and not leaders. Why is this happening? The lacuna is created by curriculum prepared by educators or scholars from the “old school’’ with outdated ideologies. I always wonder how they can accommodate the capabilities, vision and needs of a new generation.

Recently, I met a girl who just completed BCA after doing a commerce stream for her plus two. When asked about her career plans, she said she is planning to go for MBA. I was inquisitive to know her objective was to get an MBA. She spontaneously replied that she doesn’t know why, but for a good job she thinks an MBA is required. She was advised by her friends and relatives that MBA would open lots of opportunities. She represents a cross section of our typical career aspirants, confused and lost in the wilderness of career selection. I did mention this issue in detail in my first blog, “Why we end up in the wrong job?” Our career aspirants or fresh graduates are like balloons, inflated and pampered by parents, spoiled by the colleges or institutions, abused by the faulty education system and speciously advised by inappropriate or unprofessional “well wishers”. These kids should understand that, having an MBA will not fetch them a job. Well! It may increase their employability.

One of my partners elaborated more on the fallacy of our jobseekers, especially if they are having the MBA tag. These MBAites are in a fantasy world and they are very reluctant to accept any position, less than a managerial role. When interviewed, an MBA holder said because he is having an MBA from a highly rated B School, he is entitled to get a managerial position to start his career. Who is the loser here, the job seeker or the B School or the parents?

The MBA curriculum with lots of inadequacies will not equip the students to face the business challenges in the corporate world. The irony is that no student or their parents has the fortitude of a kindergartner to challenge these inadequacies. As I said before, we need to think from the student’s angle as they are the ones who are going to be out there and develop courses or curriculum suiting their needs and armor them to face audaciously the professional challenges.

Please comment!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/
stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2010

Who killed the Goose that laid the Golden Eggs?

2010-04-03T09:50:00.001+05:30

The collapse of the SmartCity project in Kerala, India is an example of the failure of yet another Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. It’s very difficult to blend the two groups. One dominated by political priorities and complicacies bonded by the bureaucracy while, the other group is purely driven by profits and vested interests. The time wasted in all the background work, meetings, visits of both teams, the extravagant board meetings, all ended as a waste of time and efforts (WTE).

Naturally, the confrontation starts when the government machinery that is infamous for its bureaucracy and corruption tries to come in terms with the mettle of the knowledge and investment partner. Transparency of both entities is also an important factor. In addition, clear-cut policies, guidelines and comprehensible objectives should drive a PPP project to the land of winners. What should we answer to those inhabitants, whom the authorities forced to move out of the project land? What should we say to those job aspirants who expended their time and efforts to acquire new skills to compete/join the promised number of jobs?

Earlier, industrial giant TATA’s Nano car factory was driven out of the state of West Bengal was another news that got tremendous media attention. Some Indian states are lagging way behind the desired level when it comes to create good investment climate and thereby creating new jobs. As we all agree, creating job opportunities is the best option in a country like India where unemployment is a real cause for concern. In the new economic paradigm, government led job creation is the only scope for our young generation to get employed after many years of studies. For realization of such a goal, the state governments should reshape their political agendas to accommodate a mindset towards social responsibility. Basically, they should be a government ‘by’ the people and ‘for’ the people and totally corruption free at all levels. If we are successful in acting towards these norms, then we don’t require a brand ambassador for the state, even for tourism, armed forces, basketball, hockey and so on. I believe that there was a big ambiguity since the start of the SmartCity project, the discussions, the setting up of committees, the Board functioning and on top it is the immaturity of our bureaucrats in blending the Public with Private that resulted in this climax. While formulating the regulations, it would have been better if some consultants sat on the other side of the table challenging the bureaucrats, correcting the politicians and guiding the partners. Somewhere some sync issues failed to address at the right time that would have led to this unpleasant ending. Let us think together to prevent this from happening again in Kerala!

From Public Private Partnerships to the private sector to see how ambiguous relations would even affect the best in the industry. Recently, I was engaged by a high profile school in the city to examine their capability to grow big like their counterparts in the sector. Within an hour and applying the Pro-Biz ™ method I could identify the epicenter of the problems. This school unlike other schools has well written policies, and great systems to take care of their procedures. Employees, both teaching and non-teaching are all dedicated and are doing their job with quality. Still, there is something missing! Why the environment is so depressing? The problem is between the Principal and the governing trust. Many private schools in the state are sponsored or managed by trusts through a qualified academic as the Principal. As a pure academic, the Principal in most cases lack the tact and acumen of a general manager of a company. He fails miserably to handle and accommodate the wishes and egos of the trustees. Trustees with different views and objectives always interfere in all petty issues and will not leave any breathing space for the Principal, even in his area. The issues start when such interferences reach unbearable levels and the gap between the Principal and the governing trust widen. The situation will reach its nadir when some trustees back the Principal and a few against. The functioning of the school gets affected and soon the quality of the education declines. It is a huge crime that some ego clashes lead to quality deterioration and at the end students get penalized. The Principal may not be aware of happenings inside the school under his jurisdiction. Rather, the Principal starts loosing grip over his staff. This is what happened with my client too. Typical syndrome of personality clashes! Do you recommend such trusts and entities to have more than one school, if the problem is not solved? Anyway, through Pro-Biz™ the disconnect between the governing body and the managing body is plugged to restore dignity for all involved. Some standard checks and balances were introduced to see the solution is working so that the parties involved would be able to solve their issues without outside help.

The highlight of this project is that both the trustees and the Principal had the courage and belief that a consultant would solve their issues. This thinking ‘outside the courtyards’ of the school itself should be appreciated.

Moreover, this client had the guts to openly admit that they have issues. Many of those success stories even don’t have a set of internal systems or policies or procedure. Majority will not even have a charter governing the managing Trust – Principal relationship. The hiring of the Principal itself will be a political one and later even if the incumbent is a smarty, the politics within the trust and among the trustless will ensure that they will be slaughtering the goose that lays golden eggs!

Please comment!

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www.probiz.co.in

The Bold and the Beautiful!

2010-03-26T10:00:00.002+05:30

Like previous years it’s school and college exams time coinciding with several Hindu temple festivals in Kerala, India. While the students struggle hard to memorize the textbook contents with deafening music in the background, parents praying hard for divine intervention for their wards’ success. Almost all local TV channels are running special programs on how to cope up the exam stress aimed at both parents and students having exam fever. I don’t think nowhere in the world, such seriousness and tension, equally for the children and parents could be seen. It happens only in India and where Indians live!

Similarly, it happens only in India where the elephants are tortured in the name of religious and other extravaganzas. The domestic version of the largest land mammal on earth is physically tortured by making them walk miles and miles on bitumen highways meant only for automobiles. Upon reaching the temple, they are made to stand still for hours and hours with the idol of the deity along with its custodian, the priest mounted on top (click to see an elephant getting ready for a temple procession). The elephant’s ‘manager’, ‘minder’ the mahout will be guiding the huge animal walking alongside in relation to the temple rituals. Animal lovers always protest and raise alarm against such cruelty. In addition, the male elephants periodically undergo a hormonal surge known as ‘musth'. During this period, the elephants would become boisterous and violent. What the animal needs is total rest and care. However, for monetary gains, the animals are ‘rented out’ even if the owners know that the elephant is having the early symptoms of ‘musth’. Our TV channels celebrate with live satellite feeds elephants going on rampage and killing their mahouts and other innocent people during the festivals (please watch the clipping to see one such incident; viewer discretion is highly recommended). It should be noted that even the elephants would lose their patience and resort to violence and revenge. Let us stop abusing these beautiful, elegant animals. Why can’t we explore other meaningful options for our festivals?

From animal planet to corporate planet where we could witness more hate and love stories. Over there, human employees who are at the receiving end from the sadistic human managers. How many of you have been a victim of such sadistic managers? To answer while serving in a company would be difficult, but self-realization of such tortures is the foremost step. Watch out for those managers who make you work like a caged animal, treat you badly and by paying you peanuts!

Salary definitely is not a great motivator in the modern times. But good treatment and appreciation counts. I don’t preach for the employees or urge them to revolt. I strongly believe work is worship. Personally, I used to enjoy working without counting hours in pursuit of corporate goals and objectives. What I mean is if someone exploits your passion or worship, and treats you badly, then you should rewrite the definitions of worship.

I know an organization where the employees celebrate when the dictator manager is away or sick. Employees from all departments will get together during the break.. Otherwise, such reunions were not allowed or not possible when the dictator manager is around. If present, either he will make them work on something insignificant just to engage them during the siesta.

Some unpopular managers enjoy in planning official trips during holidays just to restrict the employee being with his family. Official issues leading to outstation travel require prime attention and certain positions demand travel, agreed! However, when it becomes a routine even for issues that could be solved over the phone, then the employee starts hating the manager and soon his job.

In another organization, employees hated the manager as he interferes in each and every petty issue like lady employees lighting scented candles on their desk. However, the manager’s objection was due to the safety hazard an unattended candle could pose, that too in a centrally air-conditioned environment.

The technology-savvy manager controlled Internet misuse by the employees during work hours. As part of it, he blocked social networking sites, chat programs and online music sites. The moment the manager left the organization, the servers never had rest due to the unprecedented data transfers. Who is the bad character here?

To have a good and understanding manager is like winning a jackpot. However, the universal doctrine is that the employees hate their managers. This behavior has direct links with leadership styles. My outlook on leadership was detailed in my article titled “Thy Lead the Ship!”

Most of the employees are highly emotional beings. The more loyal and hardworking, the more they expect support and appreciation from their managers. This high expectation is where the problem resides. The moment such employees feel that they are being ill treated, the wild elephant in them run amok.

Some managers are tough but they support their employees in crisis and in good times. The employees won’t feel or understand the benevolence, as such managers won’t show any signs of their empathy outward. But when such managers leave the organization, the vacuum will remain unfilled for long and employees start realizing his true value.

My friend working in an advisory firm is lucky to have a manager who ensures that the employee (my friend) gets a minimum two weeks break every three months. Because of the work pressure and the amount of time the employee puts behind even on holidays, the manager appreciates that and treats him well. I know more than twice my friend rejected mega job offers from other companies, because he will not get such a caring and understanding manager elsewhere. This shows that money is not the employees (at least for some) are after always. Job satisfaction owes to lot other factors as well.

A manager should not have ego and selfishness. The best manager besides supporting employees will ensure that the employees are constantly learning and their growth path is clear. Learning is the most important feature as far as the employee is concerned. As in any relationship, a give and take is what drives the manager – employee relationship as well. When a manager provides avenues for learning and growth, then in return the employee would give 100% of his efforts in realizing the desired results. Blessed are such organizations, where harmony and divinity exists next to growth and business success.

Today’s materialistic world it’s very rare to find such divine managers and such noble employees. In the volatile economies, organizations chase targets and profits and don’t care for the ‘feelings’ of its employees, then how can you expect employees to be dedicated to their work and loyal to the company? Employees are programmed robots destined to achieve targets and profits based on rigid built-in systems and policies. The human element is out on a long vacation!

This is one of reasons why we see only very few successful companies on the corporate map. In pursuit of such blessed environments, employees migrate from one company to another. Only few may discover and end up in such promised lands. Majority fail to reach the preferred destination and slowly get gripped by the frustration, react like a pachyderm. Do you harbor a frustrated tusker in you?

There is no prize for the best comment, only my gratitude for your support! Please comment!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

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“Excuse me! Did you say you Love me?”

2010-03-15T10:11:00.002+05:30

The hilarious British comedy “Mind Your Language” till date rated as the best satire on the English language by immigrants to the United Kingdom (click here to watch the clipping). Who can forget the English instructor (played by Barry Evans) and his migrant students struggling to learn the language? The submission of women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) was delayed due to lack of support within the UPA allies. Mamata Banerjee, the Minister for Railways was quoted saying, there is a lack of communication between the Congress, the major party and with its cronies. To mend the mistake the Congress is now holding meetings to communicate and gain support for a seamless passing of the historic bill.

The importance of communication is undoubtedly important in all walks of our lives. Since the early origins of human civilizations, different means and tools were used to communicate activities and passion. Cave drawings indicate how human beings tried to express their feelings and emotions much before a language was developed.

It is fun to watch our driving license aspirants following the rulebook when it comes to the hand signals. The day they ‘graduate’ to licensed drivers, such lessons are ignored or dumped and then communication while driving turns into gestures using fingers or shrieks.

Today’s college goers and youngsters, especially those smitten with love bugs are lucky enough to have seamless communication with a plethora of options. Thanks to technology! While I was in college, the only communication channel during holidays is just our rotary phone at home. Being at the heart of the living room, the job always poised privacy issues. When I started earning, the highest luxury came in the form of pagers (first came the numeric pagers and then the text enhanced ones). The main drawback of pagers is that it required ‘middlemen’ in the form of a call center agent (at that time it was just a facilitation center) to decipher our voice messages to text and forwards to the receiver’s pager, again, a privacy leak!

Unlike before, today, all can make the world hear their voices through different vehicles like the social networking sites (like Facebook, Twitter), blogs and so on. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs is one of the leaders with 600,000 plus tweeter followers in India. Being a people’s representative and at the same time being a minister required to be always out of the country, tweeting helps him to communicate directly to his followers, his views, opinions, sympathizes and so on. As expected, the Indian political intricacies sometimes drive him to controversies too.

In a corporate setting, communication is the biggest tool that keeps employees updated and motivated. It keeps the customers, clients and the public informed too. For effective teamwork, communication plays the pivotal role. Successful companies always put their efforts to communicate strategies, objectives and their expectations from the department, team and employees with clarity. For the external world too, corporate communication plays vital role as mentioned before. The growth of the company, its periodic performances, especially if listed (in Stock Exchanges) all depends on their corporate communication strategies and channels. Transparency in communication is the underlying principle of good corporate governance in the corporate world. With which a company would be judged and could create confidence among its investor’s and stakeholders.

Companies employ different tools in different media such as press releases in the print and electronic media, billboards, websites, groups in social networking sites, twitter and even You tube. However, some companies misuse such spaces, especially press releases. In pursuit of creating a market presence or increasing popularity of the individual holding the reins of the company, press releases were made even for trivial issues. This excessive attention seeking would gain some followers initially, but later the readers or the viewers will get bored and trigger aversion.

A market research company launched in 2009 used to announce loudly with pomp through their press releases every time they sign a project. This act helped the competitors map the client base of the new ‘avatar’ and amend their strategy as well. As a company enjoying its honeymoon, they used to get clients during the first year of its inception. However, the initial enthusiasm dried up within the first year and company’s press releases also followed suit. The competitors and the ardent followers would suddenly make out from the void that the company has no or less projects. Thus with their own false marketing strategy or greed or immaturity to be in the limelight always, tarnished the image of the company, its services and its employees. It should be noted that in a downward slide even this would also act as a factor along with other detrimental factors.

There are companies where all activities are kept in the dark. Employees are even caught unaware of management changes and get shocked when they see new management functionaries in the corridor of the company. This is a very bad precedent, as employees should be kept updated about changes so that they will not feel alienated and shocked.

In India, we are witnessing tremendous competition among the mobile service providers. This growth paved the way for having quality customer care initiatives, including having a helpdesk handled through call centers in major cities. Hi tech banks also started moving towards this direction and utilize 24/7 customer care centers, in-house or outsourced. As call center agents are now becoming the first contact for majority of subscribers/customers as in the case of banks, it is very important to have agents well trained in customer handling and product knowledge. I was fortunate or unfortunate to get in touch with agents who respond as if they are programmed robots. The droning answers and their attitude not to take an extra mile to help the caller would definitely make users like me to switch providers.

Similarly, due to faulty marketing strategies, some operators ‘harass’ their subscribers with irritating call based advertisements. How many drivers (light to heavy vehicle drivers) get distracted and meeting with accidents on a daily basis from such nuisance calls is worth counting. This is again a good example for misuse of a communication conduit and technology.

Proper communication is important in not only business, but in relationships like guru-student, mentor–mentee, doctor-patient, client-lawyer, producer-director, director-actors, and so on. Successful outcomes from all these relationships are purely based on honesty and continued communication or exchange of information.

Using the right tool, the right set of words, the right media and the right timing is what communication is all about. The recent episodes involving famous cine artist Thilakan and the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) is an example of the above.

In well-structured companies, HR usually leads the communication initiatives with the support of other departments. Employee portals, newsletters, meetings are among a few such channels successfully utilized for internal communication.

Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. Therefore, for effective communication, both the sender and the receiver should share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. That’s theory, what is then the reality? Your comments!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“Maa! Tujhe Salaam!” (Mother India, We Salute You!)

2010-03-06T08:54:00.003+05:30

More than 2 million devotees offered pongala (offerings prepared from rice, with or without other ingredients like jaggery, sugar, plantain and coconut gratings cooked in earthen pots, readers outside India, please watch the clipping) at the world famous Attukal Devi Temple, in Trivandrum, India this year on February 28th. Women of all ages occupied the 8 km radius around the temple. Popularly known as “Women’s Sabarimala” (Sabarimala is abode of Lord Ayyappa, Hindu God, where only men are allowed), the Guinness book of world records confirms that this is the largest annual assembly of women in one day on Planet Earth. As we celebrate 8th March as the International Women’s Day, I would dedicate this blog as a tribute for all successful women.

As Hinduism spells, Sakthi is the supreme power in the universe and places the Goddess at the superlative position. Accordingly, the Indian woman enjoys equal status as their male counterparts. Over the years, access to education, entry to the world of employment,, politics, literature, arts, performing arts, army etc elevated their social statues too. Mother India had produced over the years, especially post freedom, woman with stature, intellect, leadership, talent and skills besides beauty. Few to name include Mata Amritanandamayi, Indira Gandhi, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, K. S. Chithra, S. Janaki, Mallika Sarabhai, Padma Subramanyam, Chitra Visweswaran, Shakuntala Devi, PT Usha, Mira Nair, Kiran Bedi and many more.

Being the largest democracy in the world, under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Indian Parliament is all set to approve the much awaited Women's Reservation Bill on 8th March, 2010, the International Women’s Day. The Bill once approved would provide thirty three (33%) percent of all seats in Lok Sabha while the state legislative assembly seats shall be reserved for women.

In the recent past, we have witnessed an array of Indian women reaching highest offices in their respective fields. Pratibha Patil (Hon. President of India), Chanda Kochhar (MD & CEO, ICICI Bank), Indra Nooyi (Chairperson & CEO, PepsiCo) are few who stood tall. These people systematically reached such high positions because of their background, education and intellect. Importantly, they continued to prove their worth, their leadership, and their success in their own domains. Most of them never chased media, instead media always focused on their credible work. Such success icons should be a motivation for other women in India, especially our younger generation who is nurturing dreams of a successful career.

For those who are downtrodden and not so fortunate to get quality education, especially those in our villages but with passion to stand in their own legs and to support their families are also having more avenues than ever before. Both the Centre and the State governments over the years implemented several programs directed to eradicate poverty through community participation and to empower and guide women to earn their own living. Some programs proved successful while some lost their fervor and path due to awful management, lack of political will and poor marketing. One such program that proved its worth is the Kerala government’s "Kudumbashree" Project.

As a result of such programs alongside other factors, now we could see women entrepreneurs individually or collectively in every city, every town and every village coming to the mainstream. With very low capital and frugal infrastructure yet, their activities reached heights is an example of their business acumen. Most of them started small revenue generating units, employed other woman, and explored potential markets to sell their merchandise or products. The appreciable fact is that majority of those behind such initiatives are without any previous experience or education. The products mostly include home made sweets, snacks, jute products, leather items, dairy products, poultry products, garments and the like. Salute those who showed the guts to start a business and earn their livelihood. Importantly, in the majority of cases, these women are the only breadwinners in their family. They are the unsung heroes, the real woman entrepreneurs, hailing from rural India who did their own homework, discovered their own strengths and generating income. Our visual media will feature very rarely such stories. We are used to witnessing or admiring those towering successes even if they had inherited the business from their visionary fathers.

However, the road to any such success is not paved with roses. As in any society, these women also would face lot of hurdles, in different formats. The initial social sigma of a woman working, resistance from family or husband, bureaucracy, lack of seed capital etc is few among them. However, real success comes from hard work, perseverance and dedication.

20 years back, while returning from college in our state owned public transport bus I witnessed a heart breaking episode – imaging (portraying) life’s reality. A middle aged lady was carrying a basket filled with home made snacks to be sold in front of the government owned medical college hospital (Trivandrum Medical College). Unfortunately, due to the enormous crowd inside the bus, the basket fell down and all the ready-to-eat snacks got crumbled or crushed. The scream of that lady is still ringing in my ears. Helplessness and despair in her eyes, clearly showing the grave reality of returning home empty handed. May be no dinner, or may be no medicine for her sick husband or her aged parent or no school fees for her son/daughter due next day. Other passengers, minus me, was discussing what happened, and investigating who did it and some was blaming the driver for his rash driving and some blaming the condition of the roads. None came up with a solution that would help that grief stricken lady to be at ease. People started behaving like some management consultants, who complicate things, even if they understood the problem. Meanwhile, the old noisy metallic junk reached my destination and while passing by her to alight from the vehicle, I handed over a 100-rupee note without giving her a chance to see who I am or to make a comment. That amount at that time is a big amount for me at least, since it is the weekly allowance from home. I am sure very few passengers might have noticed my gesture, as I purposely didn’t want anyone to appreciate this help. Even if someone appreciated, that would have happened in my absence as I just dissolved into the crowd in that bus stop. The help may not be enough, but it should at least help her to buy the raw materials or ingredients for making those snacks again for the next day.

Such unexpected impediments will be in the path of every woman entrepreneur. It is important to keep the spirit kindled. I know someone who has a basket full of master degrees and still reluctant either to work or start something of her own. The knowledge acquired seems to be waste of time, effort and money. This is an exception and such ‘losers’ should learn from those uneducated folks, who toil to earn for a living, rather fight their fate to provide her family at least one meal a day.

For such smaller entrepreneurs, fighting all odds to earn a living, need only our appreciation and support, not necessary in the form of money. No businesswomen or entrepreneurial awards would fetch them joy. Instead, the end of the day’s earning would bring them happiness and that too in double portion when the money is utilized to feed hungry mouths in the family. Hats off!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“Shot at Point Blank”

2010-02-25T13:08:00.001+05:30

There are only 1411 or less tigers in India (watch the clipping). Unpardonable poaching for their beautiful skins brought this species to the verge of extinction. As all our holy books proclaim, God made man to protect other living beings, we need to join hands to save them. Let’s act together!

From those massacres to corporate employee firings are under scrutiny this time. Call it lay off or end of service or separation, in the end, all serves the same purpose.

BBC’s ‘the Pointy Man's Business Pointers’ is hilarious but guides modern workplaces to success, one point elaborated at a time. Here is the funny sequence on firing an employee.

Employee terminations would be the outcome of a previous hiring mistake or an offshoot of some management blunders, which led to the downfall of the company, or an error in the manpower planning or sometimes even bad ego of the supervisor or the employee. If none of the above, then definitely, poor performance by the employees also results in terminations.

In smaller organizations, news of firing creates havoc among the employees, especially, if blue-collars dominate the company’s workforce. In Dubai, during the recession days, the construction workers felt terrible pressure when the HR representative visits their labor camp to announce the ‘hit list’ and that too on a daily basis. Everyday, 100s of employees, especially construction workers were laid down and the ‘firing ceremony’ reminds you of the agony of those four-legged livestock in a slaughterhouse.

As the company had decided to fire, then why should HR follow any best practice? This is the vicious thinking of companies these days. Don’t you think it’s wrong and we’re not in the age of Hitler? Since termination is a very sensitive issue and it affects human lives, (especially, when it comes to blue collar expatriates and their families,) it should be handled in a civilized manner. I wonder, why those HR practitioners in these companies, most of them holding MBA’s in HR and that too from elite B Schools in India or abroad, handling these separations like those heartless hunters, poaching tigers?

Such bad treatment happened even before the recession days and that too in those so-called ‘most favored’ or ‘employee friendly’ environments. If such companies dare to publish the unedited exit interview forms or the exited employees go public with their narrations, then the public image of those ‘award winners’ would get badly hit.

A Chief Operating Officer (COO) of a recycling plant in GCC was once served the termination notice, while he was climbing the stairs to his office. The business owner verbally conveyed him to pack his belongings and clear the office within 10 minutes. Even though the COO was under-performing, still terminating an executive of his stature should have been handled with much more professionalism. To add to the insult, someone from HR was instructed to stay at COO’s office to make sure he ‘collects’ only his valuables and not company’s property.

The big boss of a garment factory decided the fate of an HR professional not due to her performance. The big boss felt that the ‘HR lady’ was purposely avoiding the female CEO in the company foyer and elevator. The CEO got annoyed and felt that the young lady is not giving the main boss ‘importance’ and ‘admiration’ which the other employees at least pretends. CEO started complaining about the employee’s attitude to the employee’s direct supervisor and many silly reasons were cited to serve the termination notice. The termination notice signed by the big boss was delivered to the employee that left her guessing for the rest of her life, the reasons behind this termination.

In another instance, a fresher was forced to submit resignation (similar to termination) in a most humiliating manner in one of the service delivery companies in the GCC. The employee was under-performing and did not make any conscious effort to improve even after couple of counseling sessions. Even though termination was the only solution for the management, it was difficult as the appointment was a ‘forced one’ or rather this employee was hired to ‘please’ a business tycoon. The company management planned the exit through a series of ‘offensive’ and mortifying episodes and systematically made the employee frustrated so that she would submit her resignation. The tactics included completely alienating the employee from work, assigning her with menial tasks and the like. But the employee either did not understand the ‘plot’ or pretended that it is not meant for her, stayed and continued to ‘pester’ the management. But the poor soul succumbed to the pressure, when the management relocated her desk twice in a week to different corners in the floor! Finally, she submitted her resignation. HR was made a spectator because of the direct intervention of management.

Some employees are very smart, as they prefer the termination route rather than the resignation mode (in GCC, if terminated, (reasons other than felony or criminal acts), employees are entitled for their end-of-service benefits (other conditions do apply based on the labor law of the land). To achieve this objective, employees try all ‘tactics’ like sick leave abuse, tardiness, late submission of assignments and the like. If the HR department is genuine and not ‘decorated’ with unqualified HR professionals (the only background being that her/his uncle has some exposure in HR), then such ‘smart’ employees should be handled professionally.

We all agree that terminations are very painful events and always will be assigned to the HR in companies to handle the situation. Some employees may overreact when they are told to leave. Some may take it as vindictive against the person serving the notice and may spread rumors and some may be frigid and accept the verdict. We need qualified, trained and mature HR professionals to handle the separations (be it a resignation or termination) in a professional and humane manner. It should be noted that the person leaving the company, whatever reasons it be, terminated or resigned, that person served the company till that very moment and was part of the company’s team, so s/he deserves some decent treatment. Unprofessional companies apply tactics like withholding or delaying employee’s end of service benefits and that reflects the culture of the decision maker and not the company. In the long run, this practice will be ‘incorporated’ into the process and all employees are ‘vulnerable’ to pass through a similar discomfiture.

Exit interviews should be done by the HR, so that the separated employee be given a fair platform to comment or recommend or react on the company or his/her colleagues or supervisors or the facilities. The HR should show some courage and should not shy off from this practice fearing negative comments.

Decision to terminate usually (7 out of 10 times) comes from a reaction as against a well-thought decision with a genuine reason. The paradox is that the 360-degree change in treatment by the management and even the colleagues towards the employee who is ‘marked’ for termination or an employee who is serving the notice period needs a psychology expert’s intervention.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/ !

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“The Great Hiring Labyrinth”

2010-02-17T08:15:00.001+05:30

Here is the funny clipping depicting the interview scene from the movie, Step Brothers. Well! That’s satire, but it’s time to go for a reality check out there in our corporate world!

Every year, one of the public transport companies from the Persian Gulf heads to the northern part of Kerala to recruit ‘skilled’ heavy-duty drivers for their workforce.

What are the key ‘driving forces’ behind this hiring where it’s not left hand traffic (driving) as well as the automatic, low-floor buses just made the entry in our roads needs a debate. The daring attitude of our bus drivers, their maneuvering skills to drive through the narrow, pot-holed roads in Kerala or may be their ‘competitive’ spirit while chasing another vehicle to ‘serve’ the public, may be the few notable ‘USPs’. We need to appreciate the guts of the hiring company to recruit our drivers who will be ‘tamed’ and ‘fit’ into a working culture entirely different from the one they are used to. The adjustments they make in spite of hailing from a 100% literate and highly politically enlightened state, they can’t ‘react’ like they used to do like calling for ad-hoc strikes against silly issues is highly appreciable.

Anyway, what amused me most are the interview techniques, the interview team resort to source the best talent. The recruitment team from the transport company is led by one of the managers, citizen of that country along with an Indian supervisor. So, when you recruit heavy-duty drivers, you expect to conduct a driving test with an oral session, to test whether the candidate could apprehend the traffic basics and also able to read the signboards and write the trip sheets. You are mistaken. The only criteria, the interview team would be looking for in this ‘reality show’ is that how the candidate holds the steering wheel. What is required is to hold the steering wheel in a ‘perfect’ stance, or to be more specific it should be as per the industry standard, the 10 minutes to 2 ‘O’ clock position. The candidate is selected, if he succeeds in this ‘acid test’. Rest is left for the Almighty to take control!

Let us move on to another scenario that is happening in our neighborhoods every year. Months of March and April are the time when our local private schools hire teachers to replenish their human ‘stock’. Most of our schools lack a proper HR department or someone handling the recruitment needs. As the business owners of these schools, be a trust or a group, put their heart for recruiting senior academics to script credibility for their school (if it is a new born school, then real ‘man hunting’ happens as they all go for well known, retired old horses from the education sector and the auction would resemble our IPL player auctions) and generally, less attention will be given for non academic staff. Even if they hire non-academic support staff they would fill in those positions i.e. receptionists, accountants or other office staff. Such hiring normally would be ‘political’ based on recommendations or may be ‘imposed’ by the trust or by the owner of the school. In such a scenario, who will argue or request for an additional HR person in the school. As the demand for teachers are high in different formats like part time, full time or sometimes substitutes, you cant expect the Principal or the Academic Head to conduct interviews every time.

Most schools would utilize their current teachers to act as subject matter expert (SME) and be part of the interview team. The irony is that, these subject matter experts would flex their muscles during these interviews and utilize the occasion to ‘impress’ their Academic Head or the Principal or the management representative with their ‘in-depth’ knowledge. They fail to understand that they need not do that, as they are already part of the team. They deliberately forget the objective of the interview is to hire, good and caring teachers. This happens mainly, when ‘young blood’ meets the ‘old horses’ during such job interviews. These ‘naïve’ subject matter experts would spoil the entire mission and most likely, qualified and talented teachers would be eliminated from the list citing ridiculous reasons. In the long run, the school’s reputation will definitely get hit if similar episodes continue to happen.

In the age of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), it is natural that the recruitment processes are also outsourced to save time and money. RPO is the technical term for this process. Professional companies handle the RPO without any issues or complaints. However, selecting the right RPO provider is a challenge. Like any other industry, some ‘adjustments’ may happen with the internal skill sets of few RPO providers. As demand for such services started flooding, many new entrants in this field started engaging ‘novices’ for handling the initial telephone screening of the candidates. Without any practical or hands-on experience or expertise to do such interviews, they conduct interviews in the most amateur fashion. Many candidates complained to the hiring companies that these callers, just ‘interrogate’ without even reading their CVs and many times, they fumble when the candidate ask them about the job description. Again, such acts would tarnish the hiring company’s image and future recruitment initiatives may get hit, badly.

Similarly, hiring company’s reputation is at risk when the engaged recruitment firm or the executive search consultants engage junior employees to interview senior candidates. I have seen many experienced candidates getting irritated, when they realize at the interview room, the person sitting in front of him is very junior and do not know the abc’s of conducting job interviews. In such cases, it will end up as the candidate interviewing the interviewer. What a shame?

Another precedent that comes to my mind at this juncture is about the bogus advertisements placed by recruitment companies these days just to populate their databanks. Candidates, without knowing this hoax would apply and expect interview calls. The height of this fraud is when such firms’ even conduct fake interviews.

Some hiring managers as mentioned in one of my articles on the leadership styles, only ‘hunt’ for mediocre candidates just because they hate to see smart and ‘intelligent’ candidates. Most probably, they don’t want someone to question their skills or their business conduct. So please don’t be surprised, if a highly recommended candidate was turned down on ‘technical’ grounds.

Recently, one of the youngsters from my neighborhood joined the NRI club by accepting a job in Dubai. Let me give a little insight. The young, well-built macho was working in a government project as tech support. He is trained in Trouble Shooting and networking. For better life and due to the influence of his neighbor to ‘go and see the world’, he applied for a similar job in Dubai. A company representative interviewed him in the garden city of Bangalore and the ‘deal’ was fixed for a very low compensation. This always happen to our Indian techies pursuing a career beyond the boundaries of India, because the picture our ‘IT stalwarts’ and ‘IT missions’ in the state portrays that India is a cheap IT destination. This prejudice price tag is harming our youngsters. Yes, when you are trying to attract US or European IT projects you have the right to use such ‘catchy’ marketing slogans. But you should consider the other side of the coin. When our IT-ians were hired for Middle East or other places, the same logic is seen applied by the hiring companies, which the candidate could not question as the hiring official always quote what our so-called ‘IT guardian angels’ and their websites ‘brag’. This is unfair is what I would say as I have witnessed this phenomenon many times.

Anyway, the other day, the youngster called me from Dubai to share his anguish about his career. He was hired as tech support, but the job right now is totally different as he was assigned with the task of maintenance of office automation equipment. Like his fellow NRI’s nurturing ‘Gulf Dreams’, he accepted the task, as life had to go on.

During the job interview, the company representative never conveyed with clarity the job description. Either the interviewer did not understand the nature of the job or the candidate failed to ask more details about the job before signing for the ‘mission abroad’.

Interviewing is a skill. Whether it be soft skills or technical skills the interviewer is probing for, it’s important that the interviewer should possess common sense, ‘people handling’ skills and good communication skills. HR should be given more active role in job interviews, as both the hiring institution’s name and the candidate’s career are at stake.

Kindly post your valuable comments!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/ !

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“The Copy Virus!”

2010-02-07T08:08:00.001+05:30

Couple of months back, there was a news item in our local dailies about discovery of civilian ration cards recycled as paper plates. Even if the authorities had discarded them due to some typo errors or were damaged it was supposed to be shredded. Then how those pages reached the recycle market is still a big question mark.

Leakages happen everywhere! Question paper leakages are now becoming a part of every examination, whether it is a state board exam or are a job test. More than the system errors, the culprit mostly is the two-leggies operating those systems, as it is very easy to ‘lure’ them to unethical ‘adventures’.

In our modern offices, much was talked about records management (archiving) in late 80s. Expensive systems and software have been implemented to manage the repositories since then. Still, there are many unplugged areas for information ‘leakage’ backed up by human beings either by error or with purpose. Records management or in simpler terms filing is an art and unfortunately, most of our offices are not blessed with that.

How safe is your company records? What I am trying to examine is about the physical, paper records that includes the official correspondences, deeds, contracts, employee records, accounts related and the like.

How many companies have even a safety vault is a question to ponder. Even if they have a fire-proof safe (locker), many companies lack a clear direction regarding which documents should go inside the locker and who should be the custodian of the keys and the like. This warrants for a clearly spelled policy with a group of employees assigned with the responsibility at different levels to ensure that one or two can’t jeopardize the business continuity. Such policies should be re-visited periodically to ensure that they make sense and everyone in the cycle complies.

If document filing is an art, copying is a bane. Also, I would say that photocopier is a curse in any office environment. Many of the official files are vested with the secretaries or the office support staff. Even if the company were having a records room or a repository, zillions of copies of the one document would be outside this ‘chamber of secrets’.

I know the personnel assistant of a high profile executive, having 3 different clones of a very important file. The ‘original’ is kept under the executive’s ‘safe custody’ in his room, which may not be accessible when he is entertaining visitors or guests. So that prompted the PA to have the second clone on her desk for easy access, as the executive does not have the patience or courtesy to wait till the information is retrieved from his room. Believe it or not, the third copy of the file is always in transit between the office and the home of the PA. When asked why you need the official file at home too, the reply was so reasonable. The executive is notorious for his low tolerance and patience sometimes asks for details from the file off office hours and even during holidays. Whom to be blamed for having many copies of an important file thus opening avenues for secrecy to be compromised? What would happen if a visitor at the PA’s house may have a look at it and by chance he is from a competitor? Or in another scenario, what would happen to that file, if the PA ends up in a road traffic accident where there is a chance of other people handling it during the commotion? Is it the PA who is working her heart out to provide exemplary service, even after office hours or is the executive who should be blamed for being impatient and forcing the PA to have the info at her finger tips? You decide!

What to store and what not to store is another dilemma many managers face these days. Insensible employees don’t know what to discard and what to store. They need professional advice/training or well-crafted corporate policies implemented, regularly evaluated and updated.

Amassing papers in the offices reach other dimensions that promote the records room custodians to fight for more storage space. I know a secretary who files even the flyers and brochures regarding junior level training programs received by snail mail, as they are addressed to her manager. There are others, who take printouts of emails received and sent and file them, as they don’t trust any network or cyberspace storage.

The important point employees miss in this filing exercise is how fast the required data could be retrieved. There were incidents where after having all these state-of-the-art systems to manage records, when the executive is in need of something important, it took ages to locate. The idea while filing was just to file the paper and keep the desk clean. Once filed, if there is no unique identification code or a bar code or even a tag, then only the supreme power could locate it. The things get worse when an office secretary falls sick or resigns. Whatever handover sessions were done, still the new incumbent would definitely go wrong from the word go when it comes to retrieval of an old file from the time of the previous ‘regime’.

Even in companies where industry certified quality systems are in place, I have witnessed secretaries struggling to locate the documents requested by their managers. The amount of time lost in the ‘treasure hunt” is a criminal offence.

This is where the importance of a filing policy comes in handy. A clear guideline is required to clarify what is important and what is sensitive. This should be conveyed at least to the executive’s office staff, where vulnerable info is always floating and the retrieval time is less.

I have mentioned about the photocopier as a curse at the start of this article. I am sure that comment might have raised some eyebrows. Leakage from copy rooms is another area we should be aware of. An extra copy would do the trick or rather serve the purpose. Sometimes, absent minded or irresponsible employees leave the place by just collecting the copies from the tray of the machine, forgetting to collect the originals from the copying surface. The next user of the machine will definitely have a look at it and it may trigger the ‘radio waves’ inside the company. Also, the literate office boy becomes a ‘news channel reporter’ in many cases. I know an office boy who reads each and every memo while the machine copies. Depending on the sensitivity or ‘news value’ of the content, distorted versions will spread throughout the company often causing problems for other employees or even jeopardizing the business.

To prevent such infringements some companies went ahead and bought copiers for each department or at least separate copier machines for the senior level. In such cases, the ‘cost-cutting’ or austerity norms are kept on hold as the company deviated from their centralized copying policy. Still, nobody can guarantee the secrecy of the data, as probability of all the above-mentioned possibilities remains high.

It’s important to inculcate a culture for using copier machines, as many companies are moving towards 100% paper-less environments. Is it possible to adhere to 100% paperless is another question. Employees should refrain from keeping copies of emails and control the compulsion to make more and more copies of the same document to reduce the chance of info leakage. In addition, employees must shred excessive copies and make sure that the important files are kept under safe custody. Even if you would not achieve a paperless Utopia, try not to be useless for the company and the society. Your thoughts are welcome!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

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© stateoftheartconsulting 2010

“The Haunted!”

2010-01-28T09:35:00.000+05:30

“Do you believe in Ghosts?” this question was asked by a group of students to me in an open-house session in one of the prestigious colleges in the city. “Well! Yes, I do believe in “Corporate Ghosts’” I replied. The inquisitive minds could not comprehend my answer and they started quizzing me. My reply to them was elaborate and following is the reproduction of that conversation.

As we witnessed many companies and businesses going down the drain recently, may be or may not be due to the economic tsunami that hit the business harbors of many countries. Those companies shuttered not because of the crisis or those companies locked out in the recent past or those which are getting ready to be closed may have other ‘hidden’ or ‘invisible’ factors behind them is what I am trying to summarize.

I would say that many of these companies or businesses actually are/were haunted by the different variants of the ‘corporate ghost’. These ghosts not necessarily are possessed individuals, but could be a group of people that contribute to the cause the saga.

In addition, ghosts may not always be possessed ‘living beings’, but sometimes, certain corporate policies, company culture. Even the location of the business would act as a ghost and contribute to the downfall of the business. Let us explore few examples of such ‘corporate poltergeists’.

I had mentioned in many of my previous articles about immaturity or immature minds. This would be one of the important reasons that would qualify an individual as a great candidate for possession. Frenzied emotions or hysterical feelings like hunger for fame, hankering for exposure and illogical competition would easily possess such immature minds and control them. Such possessed at the expense of the company’s coffers would try to reach out to the masses, against the will of supporters and sometimes even their own inner voice. Accordingly, they execute superfluous marketing initiatives, without even calculating or understanding what would be the return or benefit for the company, either in the form of business or goodwill. The possessed would seek the feedback from such ‘events’ just to quench their ego. Any negative remark would trigger retaliation from such manifestations.

‘Challenger Ghosts’ will try to reach out by entering into unhealthy challenges or competitions. While in business competition, as a general rule, to script a victory, these ghosts would try to pick on someone inferior in position and status, rather challenging someone superior or equal. In cases where the ‘challenger ghost’ underestimates the might of the ‘opponent’ it is seen that the possessed may stoop to all levels to tarnish the public image of the challenger, be in business or in personal life.

‘Love ghosts’ that possess some executives, would trap both the clients and partners in romantic charades. As the relationship prospers, such ghosts will definitely bring in conditions for both the parties that would jeopardize the company’s resources, policies, and sometimes money. The employees wedged in the love web will be tormented if they try to raise red flags regarding the limitations, risks and the issues that would affect the company if such eerie promises were upheld.

Many who may get possessed with control ghost are capable of sabotaging a business. The employees will be the major victims for such ghosts. Instead of being a participative and understanding executive or manager or leader, such ghosts will ravish the employees’ individuality just to show the repugnant face of power. They destroy the very fabric of trust, honesty and integrity of the employees and devour the good spirit in the Company, i.e. the team spirit. Slowly, the ‘control ghost’ will attenuate the human capital of the company itself. The ‘control ghost is seen active in family-owned businesses. They express their ‘nazi’ traits not only towards the employees but also towards their own family members.

Another ‘corporate ghost’ that haunts many of our neighborhood companies is the ‘complicating ghost’. Such ghosts complicates each and every issue or ideas or initiatives faced by the company, its’ employees, or sometimes even their clients. This may be through nonsense policies, procedures or even in combination with any of the ghosts mentioned above. These negative fellows would also destroy the relationships, enthusiasms and make life difficult for the employees and many times embarrass the investors too.

‘Impossible ghost’ is a dormant variant of ‘complicating ghost’. This ghost will always strive to dump all good ideas at the primordial stage itself stating that it is impossible or tag anything and everything “not possible”. They are the sticks in the wheel that slow down progress.

The ‘big daddy or uncle ghost’ dominates all other family members and always resists change. In fact, this ghost is a hybrid of ‘control ghost’, ‘complicating ghost’ and ‘impossible ghost’. If they are at the helm of business, they will create havoc for the second generation and always try to find fault with those coming up with alternate or diversification plans. The ‘triumph card’ of these ghosts is their acting skills. They play well with the emotions and always win at family discussions.

Another ghost that is seen mostly in Gulf companies, especially, where Indians or Egyptians dominate the workforce and at higher positions is the ‘yes boss ghost’. This ghost in their appearances pretends to be innocent and harmless, but when in combination of a ‘control ghost’ or a ‘complicating ghost’ or a ‘big daddy or uncle ghost’ or a ‘impossible ghost’ becomes deadly. Such ‘yes boss ghost’ without grunt always nods in agreement with what the other dominant ghost dictates and in the long run, would manipulate employees’ genuine entitlements (per diems, end of service, vacations, promotions, training), manipulates the financials and thereby deceive investors and shareholders.

Watch out for the type of Ghost or Ghosts that haunt you or your department or your company and be a Ghost buster to expertly ‘exorcise’ them! May God Bless you and such haunted companies!

Your thoughts are welcome!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/ !

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“I promised him the Moon!”

2010-01-19T08:54:00.002+05:30

“Anakoduthaalum Asha Kodukkaruthe” is a popular proverb in Malayalam regarding hope giving; the literal translation is “Even if you gift an elephant, don’t give vain hope to someone!” Giving false promises (hopes) and not been able to deliver those promises will cause havoc in all relationships including the corporate scenario. To get business, suppliers or service providers always endeavor to such strategies like promising the best service or product or after sale support. Once the ‘deal’ is through, seldom these promises are upheld or simply overlooked.

In the long run, such failures in delivering promises may hurt not only the business, but also the relationships. Once the confidence in the company or it’s services is marred, later, whatever the company does good, will be viewed, evaluated or judged from that single episode of failed delivery. Paradoxically, the business owners or the chief executives make such unrealistic promises than low rank employees.

Why do we need to promise, if we know very well from the onset that we would never be able to deliver is the question that needs pondering. There would be many reasons like lack of confidence in the product or service or the team or even thy self that ‘push’ the business owners to opt for false promising.

Internally, when the employees discover that their team leader or supervisor is a ‘promise breaker’, then in the short run, both the confidence in the supervisor and the employees’ productivity will go for a spin. As team dynamics is constituted of lots of such important components, the dent in the confidence as a result of a non-delivery or no fulfillment will have a huge detrimental impact as mentioned above.

General Manager of a bakery in one of the Gulf countries used to promise good bonuses for the production departments, if the target is met during the festive season. The question that beats me is that why you need to have incentives during a festive season, even otherwise the sales will go up, right? Every year, he used to fulfill without failure the promise even though not in the quantity as promised. The GM thought that the little ‘bread crumbs’ would shut the employees or make them happy and motivated. On the contrary, the employees took this as a game to fool them and considered this as a betrayal. As employees tend to have an attitude of ‘you scratch, I bite’ slowly frustration started to take control over their emotions and loyalty. The failure in keeping the promise was not because the team did not achieve their targets, but due to the change in attitude of the business owner, who started enjoying the taste of success in business recently only. As mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, it is not a great idea to have frustrated and irritated employees especially in an eatery. Such a group would deliberately compromise on quality, quantity and even creativity (required for designer cakes & other similar products to meet the market trends) to jeopardize the business. Hope the business owner would not make more promises, which he is not planning to fulfill in the future at least, if the shop is still open!

Another example of a failed promise is from an electronic after sale company owned by one of the renowned families in Gulf. Employees used to enjoy annual bonuses based on company’s performances from the early 80s. As the new generation took over the reigns, all sorts of incentives, including bonuses were stopped without informing the employees. At the start of the year, the employees as usual expected their bonus. Many planned their vacations, shopping, children’s education etc. based on their expected extra income. The employees were kept guessing as the management did not have the courtesy to inform them about the new decision. Needless to say the employees who used to work their heart out in expectation of the year-end ‘carrot’, started collective grunt. The company started losing quality and skilled workers within a span of 15 – 30 days, with whom the company spent their time and effort to give training during those 10 – 12 years of their service with the company. Among the reasons quoted for their resignation, non-disbursement of bonuses stood tall. Further, they disclosed during their exit interviews that even though the bonus amount many used to get was very meager, still they would have welcomed it as a gesture from the new generation owners. So who is the loser here? I would say the company, which lost their talent, that was nurtured all through these years just because of some thickheaded or immature or unskilled decision-makers who were trying to prove to their visionary dad that they achieved cost cutting the moment they assumed office. This is ridiculous!

In the same company, an HR professional who was instrumental in establishing the company’s human resources department resigned due to a similar ‘promise issue’. The General Manager made the promise, that once the HR department is established, the HR executive’s package will be revised. But the GM failed to uphold that and the employee walked off, jeopardizing the HR initiatives in that family owned firm. This created more chaos as this coincided with the attrition of the technical staff due to the bonus issue. These kinds of promise breaking episodes are seen mainly in the Gulf businesses and the high rate of prevalence among the family owned or non-listed companies where immature decision-makers are at the helm.

Delaying or withholding promises is seen in all walks of our lives. We see the politicians failing to deliver what they promised during their election campaigns, governments failing to create employment opportunities in countries like India, failure in controlling the price rise, failure in delivering the projects related to infrastructure development etc are few examples. The voters don’t have much choice like employees in a company!

It’s fair to look at the other side as well, where promise breaking sometimes is beyond an individual’s control. The circumstances when the promise was made may not be the same at the time of realization. Such as, the company making losses or on the verge of bankruptcy, inflation or recession or economic condition of the nation, those may propel them to change their word. Whatever the reason be, if you had promised and now reached a situation where you can’t uphold, then explain or talk to the other party and explain the situation. People will respect and appreciate your openness and honesty. What people hate is silence. Silence can lead to many rumors and fabrication of stories and later people will resort to extreme actions like resignation, termination of payment and deceit. So you decide, which is better!

Your thoughts are welcome!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“The Power Play!”

2010-01-12T08:57:00.001+05:30

“Power corrupts” is the normal cliché we used to hear since school days. Definitely, power corrupts or erodes when vested in the hands of unqualified or immature minds. Before vesting power, the person should be treated the way a diamond is polished. He should be mentally and spiritually ‘enlightened’ before receiving power.

This is why in a professional environment career progression is very important. A well-structured program would ensure that future leaders would get a good look at the different career ‘steps’ before reaching heights. In short, step-by-step ascent to more responsible and ranks is the way it should be. Why those who assumed higher positions either as a gratis or as a blessing from the lady luck fail to perform needs no further explanation.

Thinking about grabbing power itself leads to conscience corruption. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth sets a great example of how a person may become corrupt by the avarice of power. In the initial scenes of the play, it is obvious that Macbeth had a clear conscience. When Lady Macbeth reassures him about power, wealth and goodness that he would inherit if he succeeds in the plot against the unguarded Duncan, Macbeth’s greed for power reaches it’s climax. The three witches and their prophecies turn out to be just an extension of Macbeth’s hidden desire for power and greed.

Chanakya or Kautilya accentuate that a person in high post, should know how to handle power for the benefit of others and not to misuse it. In Arthasastra, Kautilya prophetically predicts the characteristics of bureaucrats and statesmen and goes on dictating rules to prevent misuse of power. Further, Chanakya emphasizes the importance of accounting methods in entities to measure performances. Kautilya was very much clear that no rules and regulations would check unethical behavior and that character-building and action-oriented ethical values were essential for the person in high ranks. Amazing to learn that Arthashastra written early BC is very much relevant even in 2010!

I recall my school days, when the role of the class monitor (the person who manages the discipline during the absence of the teacher) entrusted to one among us, how that little doses of power used to affect the fellow in charge. He may show favoritism by allowing his circle of friends to cross the discipline limits like the freedom to chat, and sometimes to ‘launch’ paper rockets.

In the corporate setting on a daily basis, we can see the mishandling of power and its infringement against the most vulnerable lot, the subordinate employees. Like an expatriate, lower grade employees too are always the victims of power indignation. Office harassments are basically an outcome of the power misuse.

Research also reconfirms that misuse of power is also one of the components that leads to employee bullying. Unrealistic targets, authoritarian management styles, personality issues and failure of the supervisor to take action against such incidents in the past along with misuse of power leads to bullying.

If the supervisor is levelheaded and doesn’t misuse power, then bullying would not happen. This confidence would help improve employee morale, productivity and reduce absenteeism. In one of my previous articles, I have narrated a situation where the immature supervisor always screams or yells at the Team Leader. The other employees in the whole organization always work in fear, as they expect the same fate of the Team Leader. A typical example of abusing of power! Naturally, the employees opt for various ways including change of jobs and the few left behind even resorted to ignore or avoid the big boss.

Unexpected fame or gain of power, stress, arrogance and ignorance could be the causes that push a person to misuse power. Those serving the community or leading organizations or teams should control such emotions and senses before accepting power. Then only we can call them ‘Leaders’.

In the modern era, as MBA and other management programs teach and preach at length to our future managers and leaders about leadership styles and how to lead and manage people through numerous theories (most of them conflicting!) fail to emphasize on the value of being a good human being. To be a good manager and a leader you need to be a good human being to start with. If you have all your emotions under control, then you can be a leader, who will use power only for good and would never misuse power unethically. It is high time that the curriculum for management programs should include a module on how to nurture good values and beliefs.

Scanning feedback received and posted on my recent blog on the New Year resolutions mainly item 9 in the Charter for ‘Corporate Behavior (CCB) for Employees’ it is evident that employees go through lots of ‘no’ situations but due to their job at risk, they restrain from reacting. Another comment was a total dissent against the idea of employee saying no to unethical requests from the boss or supervisor. Further, the question was raised whether the employee should be loyal to the boss/supervisor or to the company? For the employee to work, the company should exist (subsist) right? Then it’s fair that the loyalty pointer is directed towards the company!

Why we need to create situations where the heat is on the employee to do unethical tasks? Is this another instance of power misuse? Yes, it is. Since the requestor is the boss or someone in the higher ranks, and he is forcing the employee to do unethical tasks is a classic example of power abuse.

I continue to disagree to the fact that the employee shouldn’t be a judge of the tasks assigned to him. He can also be the judge as he is the person who will be doing the unethical or wrongdoing. Later, if the unlawful activity is exposed, who will vouch for the poor soul? The boss? I really doubt! Very rarely this may happen and majority of the time, the employee is made a scapegoat.

If you consider the workplace as a sanctum sanctorum, work should be worship and the power expended ethically should be the prasada (like blessed sandal paste given to the devotees in Hindu temples). In such an environment, the rest will fall in their right places and such a workplace will soon be one of the most favored organizations, equally admired by investors, employees and the industry.

I use a quote talking about domination, compromise and integration to end this article and it says, “By domination only one side gets what it wants; by compromise neither side gets what it wants; by integration we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish”. Your thoughts are welcome!

Kindly post your valuable comments.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

For older posts and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/ !

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

“Happy New Year!”

2010-01-01T10:28:00.002+05:30

Another year unfolds amidst reports from businesses recovering from the aftermath of the economic downturn or economic slowdown or economic crisis or recession depending on the geographies or region or country. ‘Smarties’ endured the bad phase, and survived the US mortgage-initiated ‘calamity’ through converting the opportunities such a crisis would present. A few did whatever possible to cut costs, including downsizing and adopting extreme austerity measures and survived the current. Others simply gaped at the losses, whined about the crisis, blamed the policy makers, challenged the banks and ensured that the business shuttered in an unpleasant style.

This was true for employees’ (individuals) thinking or behavior during the crisis, as well. Due to irrational downsizing and layoffs, too much talent was available at lesser price tags than ever before. Forward thinking Business Owners took this opportunity and hired quality talent. Those employees who got hit by the crisis particularly in select industries (construction, real estate, automotive etc) was forced to take severe austerity measures as many of them lost their jobs or salaries slashed were forced to send their families home (mostly from the Gulf Countries) or send their children back to their home countries. Others who even though got hit, simply blamed the fate and wasted their time and effort waiting for those ‘dream projects’ in the ‘pipeline’ that was dried much before the crisis hit the bay.

Well! New Year is the best time to rethink, restructure and redefine the strategies, organization and objectives of businesses as well, as to set certain resolutions that may look impressive in the eyes of others (at least). Whether it’s a CEO determined to convince the board or employees trying to convince their supervisors, resolutions have only a short span of life because the resolution taker or the other party will fail to remember it’s existence either voluntarily or involuntarily. In case of emergence of adverse episodes, revisiting would occur.

The biggest dent the crisis made is in the minds of investors, stakeholders and every other corporate citizen is the doubt factor. Trust is now a very expensive commodity as investors don’t trust their boards, boards doesn’t trust their CEO/GMs, CEOs don’t trust his/her team and infiltrates all the way down to the tip of the funnel.

I thought of formulating two relevant Charters, one applicable for the ‘aristokratia’ group of CEO or Chief Executive or Board of Directors or Employers (as case be) and the other for the petit-bourgeois group comprising of employees. You can add/delete and frame the charter at a place of your convenience to make this a part of your daily life. Remember! Investors and employees prefer Organizations that are honest, ethical and transparent.

Charter for Corporate Behavior (CCB - ‘aristokratia’ ):

In this New Year, I/We will,

1. strive to protect or safeguard shareholder or investors’ money;

2. ensure integrity of data and never order my employees to manipulate data;

3. not misuse the power entrusted in me;

4. not use the power or company’s money for my personal gains or fame;

5. strive to keep my promises to my clients, suppliers, service providers and employees;

6. not lie or compromise on issues related to quality;

7. treat employees as ‘military generals’ with delegated authorities rather than just hired soldiers;

8. make my team appreciated and aligned with the organization;

9. do my level best to retain my top talent at any cost;

10. ensure that all employees are provided with adequate salaries, deserved benefits and once they leave, will ensure that they leave the company with a smile;

11. not get carried away with past glory;

12. enter new markets only after much research and groundwork;

13. become more humble;

14. be true to myself to the end;

15. stand to my task without whining;

16. be right as a man, as a friend and importantly as a human being.

Charter for Corporate Behavior (CCB – ‘petit-bourgeois’) for Employees:

In this New Year, I will,

1. dedicate 100% of the working hours for work or for the benefit of the employer only;

2. not access social networking websites or chat programs during my work hours;

3. not waste time and money of the company by forwarding worthless emails, which has nothing, related to work;

4. not take longer breaks or exceed legitimate break times or misuse leave entitlements;

5. not infringe the copyright or intellectual property rights;

6. not show any preferences like religion, nationality or caste or color while hiring and at all times strive to ensure opportunity was given for the suitably qualified and experienced candidate only.

7. strive for knowledge acquisition and knowledge management.

8. not conspire or backstab my colleagues or coworkers.

9. say ‘No’ when employer or supervisor pushes to do unlawful practices or tasks that is against the company laws or ethics;

10. be true to myself to the end.

11. stand to my task without whining.

12. be right as a man, as a friend and importantly as a human being.

Let this be a beginning to be good corporate citizenship and also make the organization a better workplace ‘at least’ for this year. Happy New Year!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

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© stateoftheartconsulting 2010

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“Gold fish in the bowl”

2009-12-28T08:08:00.001+05:30

Many of my blog followers wrote to me saying that I should include other topics and issues apart from the corporate or work life setting. Well! I would prefer to continue with the work- life related issues but I promise I will try to touch or link other aspects of life in the backdrop of work-life or how it may influence one’s work and domestic existence.

Further, I may not be able to write articles on issues in which I don’t have in-depth knowledge because of the following reason and I am sure my highly intellectual readers would agree. Of course, I may have my own opinions and views on issues happening on or off the corporate world. This is because of the knowledge gained from media or books but may lack an in-depth knowledge to deliver a speech or post an article. I always believed that half-knowledge will not take you anywhere as it is very much close to ignorance. However, the irony is that only very few would admit their ignorance.

Recently, I attended a college function and the students requested me to deliver a ‘gyan’ on the Copenhagen Summit on Environment. I humbly declined the request stating the same reasons mentioned above. What I told the attendees is that I may be able to deliver a ‘chocolate coated’ speech on the requested topic based on my information and readings and swindle the listeners, but I am not going to do that because I would prefer to speak on my own domain. Importantly, I don’t want to loose an opportunity to enlighten aspiring job seekers on the fierce corporate world outside the campus gates.

Thinking about another blog topic draws my attention towards the bowl in the corner of my living room. The bowl is having a gold fish, my son’s only live ‘toy’. To maintain an aquarium in any format or size is a real headache, added responsibility and time consuming, as our little shiny, golden or rather orange colored swimmers demand too much attention like change of water every other day, aerator, constant maintenance of water temperature and the like.

Similar to the gold fish, we are also susceptible to the conditions around us both in our domestic and work life. There should be visible or invisible requirements or facilities in both cases to provide regular grooming or de-cluttering as required to lead a ‘clean’ life or to excel at work. If we do only bad deeds or bull s**t too much, the ‘water’ in which we are ‘swimming’ will get polluted and soon we would perish by consuming the toxics emitted by our own deeds or work. This is nature’s own way of de-cluttering!

Science needs to be more advanced to measure and record the level of satisfaction or feelings of Gold fish inside a bowl. Whether s/he is happy with constraints like being in a bowl, feed timings dictated by the ‘caretaker’ and the stress during the change of water needs research. I am sure the gold fish is not happy as s/he is confined his/her freedom inside a glass castle.

Well! The debate is whether the fish is sad or happy or arrogant or ignorant. In all the cases, the state of mind in which the fish is in is purely depending on factors around and within the bowl. To be a gold fish or not is your choice. Being a pet gold fish provides lots of luxuries at the disposal of others time and effort. But one small mistake or delay to change the water or switch on the aerator would be detrimental. You should agree that being a shark also has its own merits and demerits.

In work life, you need to create your own niche rather depending on others to create you with opportunities for growth. You need to keep your eyes and ears open to grab such opportunities as in the real world nobody would be able to guide 100% where you need to head for success. As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, a mentor would help, but you need to follow your heart. During the initial years of your career, I think it would be better to be a ‘gold fish’ as you may need time to acclimatize and choose the best career path for you. During the initial phase of your career, you may need mentors, sponsors and tons of luck. At any given time, you need to sharpen your thinking skills and strive to enrich your knowledge base and always try to think out of the ‘bowl’.

Whether you opt to be a gold fish or a shark, you need to cultivate and then safeguard values in your personal or corporate life. More importantly is to have a ‘beautiful mind’, with the right mix of creativity, imagination and empathy. The highly acclaimed work of Edward de Bono, ‘How to have a Beautiful Mind’ would guide how to create a beautiful mind. The techniques mentioned ‘doesn’t need a high IQ, or reams of knowledge, or a great personality’.

To be ambitious and creative doesn’t mean that you should opt for shortcuts. Some people opt for the shortcuts to script success and like a mushroom in the Indian monsoon, will popup into limelight and perish within a short cycle. Achievements from shortcuts are short-lived, is what history proclaims.

Success always has the side effect called arrogance. Arrogance would kill your humility and shuts the openness of your mind to learn more. “Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance; these are the marks of those who are born with demonic qualities, O Arjuna” said Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita.

I recall the entrance of the guru’s abode. The entrance is designed in such a way that there is ascend and a descend, so the devotee entering need to ascend a bit and then descend to the inside of ashram with humbleness or openness to accept enlightenment. After darshan, and hearing the Guru’s discourses on life or spirituality, the devotee or follower returns by ascending and then descending to the materialistic world with the same humbleness or openness with which he would be able to practice daily life. This is life, where we would be faced with ups and downs and those who realize this fact would emerge as the final winner!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

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“Honey! Just Say No!”

2009-12-19T08:32:00.003+05:30

The word ‘No’ is definitely the most reviled word to hear when you were a toddler. Nowadays, as parents this is the word which we use zillions of times a day at home when our 4+ year old son, ‘invents’, ‘discovers’, ‘nags’, ‘screams’ and so on.

I think too much ‘No’s’ in childhood might have created an aversion towards the word ‘No’ in me. Whenever, my team members say something is impossible, my reply would be, “ the word No’ is not in my vocabulary”. Everything is possible is what I used to say to my team when we were stuck with either a challenging task or a nonsense request from the client or occasionally a situation arising from stupidity of others or due to a false assurance made by someone who do not understand how things are accomplished professionally. On a scale of 1 –10, I was right 9 times, that “it’s possible”, I should say with pride.

However, may be due to my workaholic nature, many occasions, where I should have said ‘No’, I either forgot to tell or I avoided telling ‘No’ or I simply accepted the tasks or mediocre orders and later regretted. Some people used to take ‘advantage’ of my only ‘Achilles' heel’ and most of them benefited from it mostly in the form of ‘fame’, ‘status’, ‘money’ and other material benefits.

Why I didn’t say ‘No’ needs research! I may blame it on our great Indian culture that teaches or preaches the disciples to make the life meaningful through our actions. Through metaphors from our epics and holy books we, Indians are ‘programmed’ to be tolerant, dutiful, respectful and to have all the good virtues depicted in our holy books.

When I was a kid, I used to quiz why the great Asura King, Mahabali, agreed to give the three paces (steps) of land for ‘Vamana’, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Why he didn’t say ‘No’? Even the King ignored the warning even from his guru. The story goes on as Vamana measured all the worlds and the sky with just two paces. Then, Mahabali offered himself as the third pace and was thus banished to the Patala, the nether world.

Anyway, my guru enlightened me that always the ‘good will triumph over the evil’. But the irony is that we are not ‘Saints’ or can’t expect incarnations of the supreme to appear like those days to slay the evildoers. The only certainty is to learn how to say ‘No’, in situations, where our conscience disagrees with what you were asked to do by someone, even if s/he is your superior or elder to you. You need to be the judge of your actions and decline accordingly.

The best seller “The Book of NO” (250 ways to say it – and mean it and stop People Pleasing Forever) by Susan Newman illustrates plethora of situations that we may face both at the workplace and private life and guides you how to say ‘No’.

Have you ever counted the number of times you said ‘No’ while at work? It would be very rare or nil, if the requester always is your boss, right?

Recently, a legal officer in one of the UAE banks was asked by his supervisor to perform a diligence exercise on a proposed merger of two banks. On a closer look, the employee realized that the task has nothing related to the bank where he is working and on further quizzing the ‘boss’ agreed that this is his personal work and what he was asking is a ‘personal favor’. The irritated employee said ‘No’ as this was not part of his job and also has nothing to do with the employer, the bank.

In the corporate world too much such personal favors or unethical job requests like changing of HR records, manipulation of data and the like from unprofessional and callous bosses come on a daily basis and the unfortunate subordinate employees, most of the time, do not have much choice except to say ‘Yes’ instead of ‘No’.

Similarly, using the employee as a Trojan and compelling him/her to reply emails to clients or suppliers with the text dictated by the supervisor, just to create friction or to convey to the Client or the Supplier what the supervisor wanted to say is also not uncommon these days.

In such situations, the employee should be saying ‘No’. However, if the employee is “weak” or is a “saint”, then there will not be any end to it, as s/he will be taken for granted incessantly.

The moment you say ‘No’ to an insipid supervisor, we can expect the countdown for employee’s exit soon. Recently, I received an email from one of my female friends working in a bSME (below the SME category business) explaining the reasons that triggered her resignation. The major reason was the attitude of her female toxic boss (trying to emulate the female CEO in the 2006 movie, ‘ The Devil wears Prada’; please click the link to watch the clipping!) who used to hate this female employee since the day the employee defied Boss’s pressure to manipulate the core data ‘black box’ of the company. Since then, boss catches my friend for wrong or fictitious or unreasonable reasons such as not complying with the dress code, not carrying boss’s luggage during one of the business travels, her personal hygiene etc. Even after the employee submitted her resignation, the harassment continued in the form of delaying the resignation acceptance and withholding of her end of service entitlements. Sometimes, the ‘No’ bears a mega price tag!

An employee should master the art of saying ‘No’ in a very diplomatic ways if the situation demands such diplomacy. But diplomacy should not to be the criteria, if someone is using you as a ‘tool’ to do bad or inappropriate tasks. Remember, the requester may not have a conscience but you may be having one!

Even though I preached diplomacy, but in circumstances where the employee feels that s/he has been used or the request is unethical and against all known norms, then definitely the employee with no hesitation should turn it down with a ‘big No’ giving diplomacy a vacation. The power of this two-letter word (‘No’) is amazing, ‘yes’, if aptly used!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

Blunderland Chronicles!

2009-12-09T09:40:00.002+05:30

Sometime back a popular movie in Malayalam (Indian Language) had a comedy scene depicting how a Carpenter makes a wooden cot. Upon finishing the work, we can see him inviting the owner to see and appreciate his work. The blunder is that one of the pillars in the courtyard got trapped inside the frame of the cot without the carpenter’s knowledge or in other words the cot was made ‘around’ the pillar. (Click the Youtube link to view the clipping). Likewise, how many ‘real-time’ minuscules to mega blunders, we witness while at work?

An enormous wedding cake made for a high profile wedding got stuck inside a bakery due to the stupidity of the baker and his team to take into account the size of the door through which the multi-layered, designer cake has to be taken out (sorry, I don’t have the clipping!). How much time, effort and money wasted is history!

HR department blunders are very common, mostly when the employee who was promoted and transferred from the other department to HRD, handling the HR function. In the GCC countries, this is a common practice (especially in family owned businesses or SMEs) as the business owner or the Chief Executive is very reluctant to ‘fire’ anyone, instead, s/he would try to ‘accommodate’ the employee in a ‘less’ chaotic or sometimes the only well-organized department in the organization. So don’t get surprised if series of blunders like forwarding the draft warning email to the employee itself for review instead of sending to his/her Supervisor or sending the job offer to an employee in the company with the same name, instead to the selected candidate, faulty job descriptions prepared without understanding the job or just a ‘cut n paste’ from another job description or sometimes from the internet and the like. Think about an employee in a poultry development department getting a Job Description that talks in length about his/her duties related to cattle breeding or mushroom cultivation!

Hiring is always a tricky affair! If you look around, you would see companies carrying ‘excess baggage’ that resulted from hiring blunders. The good thing about the recession is that it helped many companies to clear such ‘clutter’. Few months back, one of my friends from the services industry narrated to me a catch-22 corporate incident. As part of a restructuring initiative, his company hired a veteran (nearing retirement age) to head the services department. Based on the direct orders from the top, HR did not or could not give any attention to the soft skills or did not even bother to state that this person would be a ‘misfit’ as he has a track record of adjustment problems in his previous ‘missions’. The comparatively young employees in that department could not stand the slowness, passiveness and interference from the new boss. Moreover, the only objective the veteran boss had is to clear the backlogs, and did not pay any attention to the quality of the service delivered. Although he has immense experience, (which prompted the top management to hire him), he sidelined the quality procedures just to ‘deliver’ what he had promised to the top management. Complaints started pouring in for the first time about the output and the team started panicking. Soon, the department started drifting from the organizational goals and soon HR was forced to call for top management intervention.

Performance Appraisal period in any company would provide good episodes of blunders either by the managers or the supervisors or by the employees itself while completing their part in the appraisal forms or conducting the appraisal meeting itself. In smaller organizations you could witness ‘emotional imbalances’ and ‘black mailing’ during the appraisal period by the employees. “I did for you that, you remember the other day, still you think I am not performing” is the usual cliché. In other cases, female employees making emotional dramas including crying and ‘purchasing’ the manager to change his/her ‘verdict’ on the Appraisal form is also a reality.

Career choosing/changing blunders too are very common among the greenhorns, when they lack proper career guidance (please read my first article “Why we end up in the wrong Job?”). Early diagnosis will help rectify such blunders but when you are in a foreign land (as an expatriate) you have lots of restrictions and hurdles before you hop. At this point, I would like to salute one of my college mates, who immediately after obtaining the postgraduate degree did not wait to get a job. Instead, he started his own business, a roadside small pan-shop (with a mediocre capital which sells, pan products, cigarettes, refreshments, daily needs for the city populace etc) in a crowded area near the city’s main bus stand. I salute him because unlike most of the Keralities, he did not go for any flashy corporate houses to become a management trainee or wasted his time writing tests or attending walk-in interviews, where interviewers would ask him how many steps he just climbed etc or like majority, he did not opt to become a Non Resident Indian (NRI) to work abroad (generally the Gulf), where he would have faced lots of precincts as an expatriate, where he might have treated badly by hypocrites (if he was unlucky), or being suppressed or always under threat or pressure or manipulated his character and work ethics or forced to work under (or with) jerks (if he was extremely unlucky) and to get tormented by the extreme weather conditions. I admire him for his courage (which I did not had at that time) and his sense of pride in what he’s doing for a living.

Blunders in departmental organization structures are also very common in companies especially, where the ‘Old School or No School’ reigns over the ‘New School’. As mentioned in one of my previous articles, when the department manager is unsure about what s/he is doing or is decorating that position just because of ‘lady luck’, then many blunders precipitates. Hours and hours were expended to convince an ‘Old School’ Finance & Accounts department manager in a real estate company that the reporting line of the newly hired Financial Controller is directly to the Chief Executive and not to the Finance & Accounts manager as per the new Organization Structure and the Financial Controller has much more wider role than the Finance & Accounts department manager. The ‘Old School’ guy till-date could not ‘digest’ the idea and is now engaged in an Internet ‘research’ to prove the Organization Development Specialist wrong.

Even the successful leaders often make ‘mega’ blunders. This happens mainly when it comes to business expansion or business strategy implementation. Many successful and established business owners are great ‘dreamers’ and excellent ‘tinsel town personalities’ and have good acumen in strategy articulation. However, when it comes to implementation or to take a bold step, most of them fail. Opportunity to collaborate with an international rating agency lost by a local service provider was such a blunder realized by the business owner at the threshold of bankruptcy only. This happened just to retain the ‘charade of glamour’ of being a locally born business. This false notion in the changing paradigm where businesses especially those ‘Below the SME’ (bSME) criteria would survive only through collaborations, was simply a ‘majestic’ blunder.

All these mistakes or blunders by experienced business leaders and employees are because of lack of thinking or lack of proper homework or lack of application of knowledge or poor communication (to some extent) or lack of interest or simply lack of ignorance.

Importantly, for an employee to perform, the company should provide all the requisites including training and mentoring. In cases, where even after corrective measures, the employee continues to make mistakes, then ‘clinical intervention’ would be the only option left with the management to sever the relationship.

A blunder made by an inexperienced employee is excusable to a certain extent, as human beings are primed to make mistakes once or twice, but repeated more than twice, then the individual should be labeled obtuse.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

In-house Politricks!

2009-11-29T09:09:00.000+05:30

Often, family owned businesses witness the ‘drama’ named power struggle. The senior employees trying to be closer to the business owner or the Chief Executive is very common. If one of them is an old-timer and was the ‘best man’ of the ‘big daddy’ or the person who established the business, then the drama will have more twists than expected. The new generation business owner (son or the heir) will naturally inclined to attracted to the dad’s man, at least during the initial learning phase would make life difficult for the other ‘aspirants’ trying to be closer to the ‘circle of power’. If the new generation business owner is also an actor, then s/he will make the senior employees more ‘creative’ in their race to the top. Imagine the state of an employee or employees who may get sandwiched between two power centers in an organization!

In such a situation, the employees will get lost, especially those in the management or support departments. In most cases, especially in family owned setups, smart employees will soon or later become ‘politicians’ to survive in such an environment where every move is based on the ‘Politricks’. All ‘players’ waste valuable time and effort as they expend their energies to knit strategies just to oust one from the race for power. Focus on the business will be lost and slowly the business bottom lines may get affected. In the ferocious corporate world, competitors are most likely to benefit from such internal state of affairs.

Structural fault in the design of reporting lines (Chain of Command) or Organization Structure also contribute or create avenues for such power struggle or create multi-power centers in an Organization. This is evident more in a Flat Organization with relatively few hierarchical levels than in a Tall Organization.

Hiring decisions also contribute to political dramas in family owned firms or unprofessionally managed companies, as Managers or Executives tend to hire only mediocre talent, so that they can ensure their position in the Organization / department and also ‘rule’ the subordinate employees with an ‘iron fist’.

When there is a Manager or Executive, who always shouts at the second level (Toxic Boss Syndrome), makes the junior levels insecure. In addition, such inappropriate and immature actions from the leader of the Organization also trigger lobbying against such Toxic Bosses. The insecure group will slowly start the job search and the company slowly but steadily will switch on the ‘conveyor belt’ as the employees start ‘rolling out’. Naturally, we need ‘level headed’ leaders in all Organizations to avoid such happenings. (Please read my previous article on leadership, Thy Lead the Ship!)

Mafia formation is another offshoot of internal politics. Some companies in the GCC, such mafias are so rampant and potent and HR departments in such companies act as ‘repellents’ for certain nationalities or religions (especially, when Indian mafias dominate the company).

Certain leaders are ‘born’ politicians and they constantly create conflicts among employees (divide and rule). This behavior has its origins in lack of self-confidence and lack of leadership skills. Given an opportunity such leaders will fabricate stories and create situations to make the direct supervisor of the employees look ‘stupid’ or to portray him/her as a ‘bad/weak boss’. In certain occasions, this would continue even after the spotless supervisor’s exit from the company. In certain other cases, any deserved promotion or change in salary for any employee in the Organization will be made as if it is done by the initiative of the ‘enterprising’ leader, even a strong recommendation was made by the immediate Supervisor. There is a strong possibility for the immediate Supervisor to get a ‘slap’ for such recommendations as well. These are ‘behind the door’ scenes that the employees on the other side may never come to know.

Such actions slowly but surely make abrasions in the thin hairline level of trust between the immediate Supervisor and the employees. Quality of work and there by the company functions will get derailed soon. The universal fact is that you can fool someone for sometime, but you can’t fool everyone always. All employees join hands (mafia formation) and systematically destroy the business is also a possibility, if corrective measures are not taken in advance. Imagine such frustrated mafia in a food retailer (eatery), employees can make the business owner run for his/her life.

In such companies there is also chance for others targeting the ‘favorite’ or ‘darling‘ employee of the Big Boss (Big B) or the Chief Executive. Wrong data or wrong directions can make such employee’s life miserable. Sometimes tactics like false flattering or appreciation of their work also is implied to speedup the downfall of the ‘darling’ employee. Many a times, the ‘darling’ employee will be fed with different versions of stories about other employees with a purpose of confusing the ‘favorite’. Mediocre work of such employee will be presented to the management with propaganda as ‘super talent’ even if the direct Supervisor might have changed the every word prepared by the ‘darling’. This high level of destructive tactic is like slow poison and if s/he is not smart enough to figure it out at the right time, the irreversible damage to his/her career or attitude might be the outcome. Slowly the employee becomes over confident and as s/he lacks expertise to detach derision and authentic comments, slowly falls into the web of self-destructive ego as well.

In a frustrated environment, such ‘darlings’ are viewed as special agents for the ‘Big B’ or the Business Owner. Sometimes, new employees also get to face this fate. Such employee’s first day at work is the best avenue to witness Politricks in action. If the new employee is already labeled as ‘favorite’ or ‘darling’ of the boss, then corporate ragging will reach its heights. In such companies, the co-workers might have already discussed and approved strategy beforehand the new hire assumes work. Cold welcome or greeting will be in the opening menu. Break rooms will also be the focal points for such dramas as well. When other employees having lighter moments during a break or seriously gossiping against the boss, the topic suddenly changes to aliens or India’s moon mission or Shilpa Shetty’s marriage when the ‘darling spy’ of the ‘Big B’ enters. Other employees would definitely script more interesting scenes and trigger academy-wining performances that would add spice to the harassment episodes. As I stated earlier, it is just sheer waste of time and effort and detrimental for the company.

To survive the Politricks at work, employees should have tremendous perseverance, have extra senses to avoid corporate traps and back stabbing. Always be alert and avoid loose talks. The best way is to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s way of 3 wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

"All that glitters is not gold”!

2009-11-20T09:36:00.000+05:30

Recently, one of the university doctoral theses was rejected by one of the examiners citing “striking similarities” with work done previously by the same examiner. The whole issue caused embarrassment for the department and the University. However, citing as an oversight ‘amicably’ the issue was solved and all the credits were acknowledged and the researcher submitted a new version for accreditation.

Two decades ago, there was a big controversy regarding an award winning literary work by a renowned writer. Some contemporaries alleged that the work was a replica of another masterpiece. Anyway the allegations and counter allegations went on for months and like any other issue, the enthusiasm faded or both parties reached an agreement to end the issue.

During my college days, to be specific during my degree final year it was required to submit a study tour report after the 2 week long tour. The funny part of it, which our Professor noticed is that 33 odd reports having the same content or same sentences and sequence of incidents, except some ‘smarties’ ‘jumbled’ the paragraphs to avoid Professor’s ‘monotony’. When questioned, one of our classmates passed a very ‘innocent’ comment, “Sir, naturally, the reports will have resemblance as we all visited the same places, and met the same people together”. In fact, if anyone digs for the lineage of the report, s/he may end up finding that the ‘parent’ report traced to couple of earlier batches. We were told that once our predecessors took the ‘same route’ and the carbon copy made from the previous year’s study report got exposed by the Examiner. The problem was not with the details regarding the visit to the famous Research Institute in Coimbatore, but by ‘oversight’ the Director’s name was not updated in the report. The report mentioned about the Director who passed away couple of months before the actual tour. This shocked the Invigilator.

Well! This reminds me of a famous quote, “If you steal from one author its plagiarism; if you steal from many its research” (Wilson Mizner). A work can inspire you, but if you are over enthusiastic to take short cuts in life either to become famous or to be noticed and convert that ‘inspiration’ ‘as-is’, then, definitely one day, you will get exposed. Please read my previous article on the business cloning regarding copying of business models.

Similarly, Market research is another area, where such ‘adjustments’ would happen. How many of the reports can we trust these days? It’s not a myth anymore that even some of the top-rated market research companies don’t even have a team to perform such research. Some may not know even the ABC’s of sampling or field research. I have witnessed the difficulty of a statistics team to compute data from a set of completed questionnaires that were faulty designed by a ‘smart’ Office Assistant who never had experience in designing research questionnaires. The only merit was that this Office Assistant was successful in ‘putting’ boxes in MS Word.

Asking the right question is an art. Doesn’t need a genius to figure out that if you ask the wrong question, then naturally the output will also be wrong or misleading or garbage. Using unskilled and poorly trained fieldworkers or volunteers or data collectors can also fetch junk, even if you have the best data collection instrument. If the interviewer does not understand or wrongly understood the questions or cause of the research, then the response will be equally deceptive. Also, if the data collectors are not directly involved with the research or they are just paid data collectors, poorly paid and frustrated, then the quality of data is at risk. If it is an epidemiological study and covers wider geography, questionnaires filled up by the same fieldworker sitting at home using different styles and different inks are also a possibility. There may be loads of such reports so produced, presented and got applauded that are either fabricated or without any standard norms.

Data presentation is another essential skill in research. It’s very easy to present negative outcomes as a positive conclusion. This starts with tweaking data using charts or playing with the English language. If a Bar diagram is substituted with a Pie Chart, the presented set of data sometimes would give a different reading. I am not elaborating such gimmicks, some researchers ‘cover-up’ their unworthy work. For those interested, please read or refer “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”, by Edward R. Tufte would give the reader range of do’s and don’ts regarding data presentation. There is a general trend, rather a cliché that if you use Percentage (%), then the listeners may not question or give the presenter more appreciation. In my view, this is also another manipulative way of data presentation. Like, data presentation, sometimes, report writing also seems so naïve.

Research in any field should be done seriously, as it is recorded and today or tomorrow someone may refer and may postulate their findings in a wrong way. Any research done without proper scientific reasoning is a ‘criminal waste’ and such researchers or agencies should be publicly ‘exposed’. Research is more than a 12th grader’s class project, and if the student ‘cut n paste’ from the Internet sites are respected as we expect the students only to learn or get a feel of doing research. But when it comes to serious research including scientific or technical or business or investment or market feasibility and that too that has immediate or future foreseen or unforeseen implications, then it should be done diligently.

Statutory warning (may be considered): All researchers, immediately after submission of their work would be subjected to narco-analysis test or polygraph and if found devious, would be subject to appropriate disciplinary actions!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

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"Influenced by Inspiration”!

2009-11-13T20:36:00.001+05:30

Not too many had an influence on me, but those influenced really inspired and left a mark on me. I know it’s a cliché if you start the list with your mom. What I learned from my mom is to face the challenges in life even if you need to make sacrifices. The sacrifices she made for the betterment of the children are implausible. This may look very ordinary, but 40 years back losing husband (when I was 11 months only) and to take care of 3 siblings is something appreciable. Facing life’s challenges with courage and with a determination to succeed is her mantra.

Next in the list is my grandfather, Sri. P. Vasudevan Nair (Late), World War II veteran. What I learned from him is the importance of discipline in the professional sphere. In addition, I learned from him was to approach any problem with an open mind and then to view it from all possible angles, a solution would automatically emerge. In recognition of his honesty, dedication and punctuality, he was named as ‘discipline Vasudevan Nair” by the then Maharaja of Travancore, H.H Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma (the last ruler of Travancore).

Professionally, very few people had instilled influence in me. One among them is Dr. C.R. Soman (passed away on 06 November 2009). He was the first person who exposed me to the world of computers and Internet. Also, influenced me to read and understand more and more subjects and not to confine to one’s domain. I was fortunate to work closely with Dr. Soman and have some greener reminiscences. His flair for both English and Malayalam languages is incredible. I recall an incident that shows his passion to keep occupied. Dr. Soman had a road accident and was forced to be on bed due to multiple leg fractures and I used to be the bystander during the day hours. After couple of days, Dr. Soman suggested writing a book to ‘kill’ the boredom. I have noticed that to hold a workaholic like Dr. Soman idle was a challenge. He was never before ‘tied’ down like this before. And thus the first draft of the popular title “Questions & Answers on Smoking” was born. Dr. Soman dictated the entire text in 2-3 days. Once he was out of the cast, the book was ready for printing. Only through Dr. Soman was I fortunate to associate with a team of doctors with ethics, they include Dr. C.C. Kartha, Dr. Ramdas Pisharody, Dr. V. Raman Kutty, Dr. Vijaya Kumar, Dr. K.P. Aravindan, Dr. S. Sivasankaran, Dr. Y.S. Sivan and more.

Another attribute of Dr. Soman which influenced me that he never says ‘no’ to anyone or any opportunity where his opinion is sought for. Either it is a small college function or a chat show in TV or Radio or an article for a newspaper or a magazine, he always agrees. Time management was the biggest challenge faced by Dr. Soman. His photographic memory and the wealth of information he possessed were amazing. Once one of the departments (either Computer Science or Electronics, don’t remember exactly) in the College of Engineering, Trivandrum invited Dr. Soman to be the Chief Guest for one of their departmental functions. His younger son also was the student of the same department at that time. The students who organized the function was not sure whether Dr. Soman being a Public Health Expert, a well known Nutritionist and more over a medical doctor by profession can be of any value addition. Dr. Soman addressed the students about their domain and its possibilities in serving the mankind. Both the Professors and the students equally were stunned and saluted Dr Soman for his in-depth knowledge even on a technical topic away from his area of expertise. The passion to learn more and more is what made Dr. Soman different from others.

Another person who influenced me was Rev (Dr.) Thomas Kottarathil (Late), former Principal of Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum. How Fr. Kottarathil used to manage unruly mobs during college functions and those who ‘skip’ classes was astonishing. To memorize each and every student by name and his/her branch/class always amazed me. His style of functioning actually guided me to be cool during a conflict and absorb the heat of the opposite party and then put forward my view. This tactic I used in many client meetings and till date this works well for me, even though one or two occasions being criticized by others for being ‘frozen’ while the client was ‘yelling’. If you too join the band, then the meeting will resemble any rally by the political parties in Kerala. I still believe and continue to believe that listening with empathy is the prime step to face and diffuse conflicts.

Listening to Edward de Bono’s motivational speech on lateral thinking in Dubai, UAE also had an influence on my thinking and approach, especially while attending meetings or discussions, which requires problem solving.

The person who influenced me to write my own blog is Mr. Bal Gopal, the owner/blogger of yourlegormine.com He is the person who introduced me to Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) during our association in Kuwait. I still remember, Bal Gopal volunteered to do the service of taking care of the footwear of devotees arriving for Amma’s Darshan during 2002 Amma’s visit to Kuwait. As all other volunteers were opting for services inside the venue to have the glimpse of Amma or to be in the limelight, Bal Gopal was happy with the choice to be outside. I was fortunate to be a part of his team that successfully managed 1000s of foot wears during the two days of Amma’s visit.

Finally, I would say my wife Tittu (Usha Nair) who amazed me with her perseverance and confidence in me during the turbulent days. She is the person who taught me to have checklists for things to be done. We have checklist for everything possible at home. She strives for perfection and meticulously ensures that the finer details are taken care. This is to avoid ‘harsh’ criticism from the ‘critic’ at home.

Even my 4-year-old son influences and inspires me, the way he manipulates us (his parents) to get things done.

There are lot of others knowingly or unknowingly influenced me, it may be another time or occasion I would elaborate.

Meanwhile, I am keeping my eyes, ears and mind open to be receptive to become more influenced!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly publish your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

Make Meetings Count!

2009-11-06T09:08:00.000+05:30

Long time ago I received a funny email forward, which in summary was making fun of corporate meetings. The most striking phrase on it was “when you’re bored, call for a meeting”. Yes, it is funny, but many of the corporate internal meetings often have a trigger point similar to this.

Some meetings are used as a platform for stretching muscles or malign another employee in front of others or just a “show-off” or drama to ensure that all are listening to the boss. I wonder why such Waste of Time and Effort (WTE) meetings are held!

In my previous article on the Board of Directors (Please read “’Bored of Directors!”), I have mentioned that in some corporate Board meetings, agenda or the supporting documents are not circulated prior to the meeting to ‘avoid grilling’ or ‘harassment’ from the attendees. Any meeting, both internal and external without a defined agenda and a written set of goals is a ‘WTE’. Moreover, agenda should be circulated prior to the meeting and ensure that the goals are realistic and achievable. Ad-hoc meetings, is away from the radar of this discussion.

For any meeting there should be a ‘Chairperson’ or a ‘leader’ who either is the meeting requester or the responsible decision-maker assigned to ‘make the meeting count’.

On the onset, the Chairperson or the person who is responsible for the meeting should assess whether such a meeting is indeed required or not. Maybe through emails or through telephone calls, the goals can be realized. Then such a meeting will become a ‘WTE’ as the attendees has to find time to attend, some may have to travel from a different location or may have to stop working on an important assignment that has a tight deadline. In such cases, a meeting called for is not only ‘WTE’ but also a ‘corporate crime’. This is not applicable for meetings where decisions have to be endorsed by attendees after debate as in an ideal Board meeting.

In the modern era, technological advances like video conferencing, give us the luxury to hold meetings even without the on-site presence of the attendees and thereby saving company overheads as well. However, only very few companies use such facilities as most of the executives in other companies either are not technology friendly or just think this is a ‘fad’. Few prefer travel just to avail the fat per-diems and other benefits linked to a company sponsored travel. Again, it requires a major ‘brain drain’ to drain out such anti corporate ideas and infuse a sense of austerity among company executives.

While meeting, some attendees always behave as if they ‘got up from the wrong-side of the bed’. They act like Opposition party members in a State Assembly. Whatever ideas or suggestions forwarded by the other members will be objected, argued and sometimes ridiculed. There are others who will never allow anyone else in the room to talk. They would try to fill the meeting with monologues and expect others to say ‘yes’. Such a person, if encountered with an authoritarian voice will suddenly change track and try to find a way out using the ‘emotional intelligence’ and divert the focus away from the objection. In other situations, such people will confuse the fellow attendees by making statements, which they claim either practiced, by their ‘grandmothers’ or present their stupidity as a quote from a popular book. Beware of such hypocrites in the room, as they are not ‘corporate friendly’ people and they would destroy the very root of the meetings.

As with punctuality, active participation in the discussions is also very important for the success of a meeting. I am sure you have witnessed some attendees preoccupied with their mobile gadgets (BlackBerry or PDA) and if it is a ‘mobile free’ environment, they will try their doodling talents in the scribbling pads. Such acts may be the result of lack of interest in the topic discussed or having the feeling that “ I am above all these” or as a gesture to express his/her displeasure for the meeting or his/her displeasure towards the meeting chairperson or the meeting requester. Such people also should be marked ‘X’ as they also are ‘traitors’ in a corporate setting.

Minutes’ taking is also very important as it records the deliberations and facilitate proper follow-up. As minute taking is an art, a dedicated and diligent person has to be assigned for the job. In Corporate Board meetings, Company Secretary or the Board Secretary would do the job. Again, as the technology advanced, minute taking is now easier than before by using compact recording devices with speech-to-text software.

For a successful outcome or effective problem solving or in situations where ‘clash of titans’ is expected, Dr. Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is very effective. Appropriate hats (White, Red, Black, Yellow, Green & Blue) facilitate parallel thinking and would produce better results in a very short time devoid of ego clashes. (Popular Book titled “Six Thinking Hats” may give you an introduction to the concept, but seeking assistance from a Certified Six Thinking Hats is preferable).

Even if you come up with a great decision or a sound solution, committed implementation or continuous feedback is required to realize the final fruit of a meeting. Otherwise, even the best or effective meeting will also end up ‘WTE’ and be recorded in the annals of history as an avenue to just meet, eat and quarrel (at times).

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

“Bored” of Directors

2009-10-28T08:49:00.000+05:30

Yes, it is simply getting bored with the actions or passiveness of many corporate Boards in many of the companies in the recent times. The Wikipedia defines Board of Directors (BOD), as “A Board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. The body sometimes has a different name, such as Board of trustees, Board of governors, Board of managers, or executive Board. It is often simply referred to as "the Board."

Well! Is it really happening, especially to oversee the activities of a company or organization? Almost in all forms of organizations, whether it is a listed company, not-for-profit or family owned business, the basics are the same. Selection of Directors for the Board itself sometimes is irrational. Certain Boards have the owner’s or founder’s sons, nephews, cousins and spouses ‘chairing’ the cachet. Most of the Directors sitting on such boards even don’t know the ABC’s of business, their role, their duties and responsibilities and their powers due to their age or simply ignorance. Responsibility to the investors and stakeholders are compromised in such cases. Whatever form the Boards are (passive or active, enlightened or traditional), the basic function of the Board is to safeguard the interest of the investors and stakeholders. In the current situation, triggered by the economic turmoil, companies going bankrupt and investors losing their monies, mass layoffs, increase in unemployment, these Boards have more responsibility than ever before.

The importance of Corporate Governance is now being seriously embraced by many businesses including the family owned. The underlying principle behind Corporate Governance is the Gandhian philosophy on the formation of trusts. Corporate Governance started evolving since 2001, after the collapse of US based firms like Enron and WorldCom. This was followed by the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by the US aimed at restoring public confidence. However, diluting or misconstruing of the Corporate Governance principles again led many institutions’ exit from the world business map during the financial crisis.

Corporate Governance warrants lots of adherence to lots of requisites. Corporate Governance is a guide defining and delimiting the roles of the Executive Management and Board of Directors, each one’s responsibilities, reporting mechanism and problem solving steps defined, documented, approved and to be practiced in a Company. However, the practice in many companies is having a well-defined “Holy Book” with all principles and best practices, documented, approved by the Board of Directors. Appallingly, not even a single Director might have read this document before ‘blessing’ it with his/her signature. This is one of the reasons that led the companies to go bankruptcy or lockouts in the recent past.

Having people, qualified enough or well experienced on Board is very important. Investors have a greater responsibility in selecting / nominating seasoned Directors. In some GCC countries, the law stipulates having a certain number of nationals (Citizens) on Board. This would facilitate an entry-level employee becoming a Board member, if the organization is a multi-diversified conglomerate. Giving opportunity to a junior employee to sit on high profile Board is fair. However, s/he should be given proper orientation or training on the core business and objectives of the organization where s/he is selected/nominated as a Director, including Corporate Governance practices.

Having a ‘great” Board is the ‘end of the story’ for many investors. Due to the other commitments or pressing demands of his/her work (as most of them would be working with the parent company or with the another subsidiary) they will not find ‘adequate’ time to meet, discuss, question and approve issues for the company in question. So ‘microwaved’ meeting minutes will be circulated and get signed by these ‘apostles’. Believe it or not, most of the times, these people sign without even bothering to read or understand the implications of the content. Sometimes, they don’t have much of a choice but to approve, as the content may be ‘protecting the investor’s will”. Who they are deceiving here, the regulators or stakeholders or both?

One of the important requisite of Corporate Governance is to have periodic meetings, at least the minimum specified by the regulator (SEBI, Central Banks etc.). The members should have access to the agenda items along with the supporting documents prior (minimum 1 week) the meeting so that the Director of the Board could ‘digest’ and be prepared for a meaningful meeting.

Away from the topic, I would like to share with you the experience of my friend, a Quality Auditor (QA). As required by the Quality Certification process, the QA is supposed to audit the company’s departments on a periodic basis including the service department. Every audit visit, the power supply is interrupted and he was forced to pull up his sleeves and get rid of his jacket to perform the audit. After couple of visits he could unravel the enigma behind this power interruption, that the department heads are behind this ‘warm’ reception so that the auditor will finish the job in double quick time due to the extreme heat, especially during the summer, when the mercury touches 50C. Like-wise, to speed up or avoid ‘interrogation’ or ‘grilling’, the Executive Management would place the documents on the table during the session or just before the meeting, depriving time for the BOD members to go into detail. This would be viewed as a pressure tactic and this happens when there is something to hide from the BOD.

Interestingly, these pressure tactics happen in companies where the same person is holding dual positions of the Chairman and Managing Director (and where there is no Chief Executive Officer). Corporate Governance practitioners do not recommend the practice of one-person holding two positions, a malpractice that would tamper with the transparency warranted by the Corporate Governance. The integrity of the financials is also questionable in such situations. Satyam Computer Services Limited is a very recent example and at least the Founder Chairman had the ‘courtesy’ to disclose the manipulations though at a very late stage.

In the above-mentioned scenario, we are leaving a ‘backdoor’ open to fraud. If the External Auditor (if not reporting to an Audit Committee) along with the Finance & Accounts department under the ‘direction’ of the Chairman and Managing Director would be ‘encouraged’ to manipulate the figures. In such cases, if we have a passive Board and that too without any understanding of the business, the organization would never be able to ‘unearth’ such ‘creativity’.

The role of an Audit Committee is also very important for the success of the Corporate Governance initiatives in a company. Further, the Audit Committee should have independent members, even from different industries to uphold the transparency and evenhandedness. Internal and External Auditors should be independent from the Executive Management with total support from both the Audit Committee and the Board. If we have an audacious Board and a strong Audit Committee, I am sure more and more “Whistle-blowers’ will rise from the “valley of fear” that may lead bursting of many so-called ‘success bubbles’.

However, in an offshore situation it would be a challenge for an expatriate to be a “Whistle-blower”, as it is very precarious for an expat employee to disclose any irregularity to a Board or an Audit Committee unless, total protection from any consequence is guaranteed. Sometimes, the secrecy may be compromised and there are instances where the name of the “informer” was disclosed and the latter getting crucified or framed. The ensuing consequences that the expat may face need not be elaborated.

Boards of Directors should be able to stamp all reports with 100% confidence. To reach such a stage, it is the prime responsibility of the Board of Directors to ensure the integrity of all reports through mechanisms underlying the Corporate Governance principles. It is a challenging task but none the less achievable. Don’t expect the BOD to have a ‘magic wand’ and to have all the skills sets required to take decisions on issues, which sometimes fall beyond their understanding or experience. In such cases, BOD should engage consultants. While engaging Consultants or Auditors, the decision should be unanimous, unbiased and fair. Some cases, one of the BOD members may influence the others to hire his/her ‘brother-in-law’s firm’ to do the job. If that is the case, then the company should not waste their time and efforts on Corporate Governance initiatives. Relationships should not influence any decisions on issues placed on the table of the Board.

We need Directors on Boards who would be able to contribute to the business, in the form of galvanizing new business opportunities or investment opportunities or network generation. Also, we need Directors on Board who would be able to expend time and efforts for the company, who would be able to attend all meetings, and who would assist in finding solutions for the betterment of the business.

Finally, as with employee appraisals, the performance of Board of Directors should also be evaluated on a periodic basis. Under-performing Directors should be replaced without apprehensions.

Such good practices can happen only if the investor(s) strive for the integrity and have a passion for transparency. Further they should be able to amass a very active Board and should be lucky to have an Executive Management team with integrity and cognizance. Still it’s a jackpot!

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2009
For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

The ‘Cloning’ Business

2009-10-21T19:08:00.002+05:30

In the late 80’s, once in a week, my friends and me used to dine outside utilizing the savings from each one’s pocket money. This was during our college days and to have food outside (to get permission from our homes) and that too from the leftovers of our frugal pocket monies was a challenge. The system worked based on sponsorship on a rotation basis. The favorite hangout for us was a ‘roadside diner’, popularly known as “Tattukada” run by a dynamic entrepreneur (I think his name was Salim) in Kesavadasapuram, Trivandrum. I am sure Salim was the pioneer who introduced this concept in Trivandrum, where the customers could see ‘live” how Parottas (Barotta) were made from a dough.

His growth was phenomenal and envious. In a very short span, people putting aside their class and pride and against the social stigma to have food from an open roadside diner used to either dine in or takeaway from Salim’s “Tattukada”. Besides the quality and freshness of the food served, the location (right in front of a crowded bus stop; GCC readers, when I mention crowded, it means at a time more than 500 people waiting for the State Transport Corporation Buses, which mostly fail to stick to the schedule) also played a vital role in his success. The tempting aroma of the food (fat omelet, fried spicy Chicken and Chilly Beef) starting from 6 pm every evening acted as the only marketing initiative for the eatery.

The success story as usual prompted many other entrepreneurs in the neighborhood to ‘clone’ the business model of Salim, replicating the style, menu and almost similar taste started populating the Trivandrum ‘eateries map’. Saddened by with the advent of ‘clones’, the immature businessman in Salim closed our favorite refectory and like many Keralites, left for the Gulf to seduce the local population and expats there to his scrumptious Parotta (or commonly called Chabathy).

Well! This is a very simple example of business cloning or in common terms stealing of someone’s business concept. In almost all parts of the world, we can see such concept infringements. As a short cut to success the majority of investors or entrepreneurs have the tendency to copy something that has already proved successful. Also, people who lack innovative ideas or out-of-the-box thinking may opt for copying.

Human beings are ‘programmed’ to take risks, if you watch a toddler trying to walk, s/he takes those initial steps risking of falling down. But when it comes to business, investors don’t even show the courage of a 1 year old.

We have witnessed mushrooming of Investment Companies in the GCC countries during 2007-2008 (pre economic crisis). They also would nominate for the ‘business-cloning’ category. Interestingly, all theses companies were with the same articles of association, same objectives, same Organization Structure, almost the same corporate logo, but with different sets of people in the vanguard. In some cases, even the investors also were the same, but in different permutations.

The alarming factor is in the similarity of their business strategies. There are many reasons for the striking similarity. However, the finger points to the Strategy Consultants these companies engage. As these ‘Strategists’ might have used the same template resulting in an output which shares the same genome.

Due to the sudden boom of investment houses, talent sourcing was always a challenge. Especially, to headhunt a Chief Executive always made the Director Board’s job difficult. (Please read my next article on Board of Directors). As talents become sparse, the Board of Directors was forced to elevate ‘unqualified’ people to such critical positions. Some examples are as follows. A Stock Trader made as a CEO of an investment company and naturally he focused only trading in stocks because that is his only strength. Similarly, when a Real Estate Broker was installed as CEO, he focused only on Real Estate acquisitions.

This reminds me of the ‘follow the trend’ prevalent in the Malayalam film industry. When one movie is a box-office hit, then all the Producers and Directors would go for the same “formula”. Shameless, even the music (including background score) also would have ‘striking’ similarities and; often such movies flopped.

Like-wise as an outcome of the Economic downturn most of the investment companies met with the same fate as they shared the same script.

We need investors or promoters or entrepreneurs to think differently and to show courage to take risks and thereby invest in innovative ideas that would lead to success. Blind Copying would lead to dead-end in the new business paradigm.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every week) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly post your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2009

For this post and other top-rated articles, please visit http://www.yourlegormine.com/

Recipe for Employee Motivation!

2009-10-12T17:24:00.003+05:30

“We have a great plan for you”, this is the common metaphor or the “carrot” we used to hear in the corporate environment nowadays as a motivation statement. Well! How many of such promises are kept is history. Motivating employees is an art. For someone who would act as a motivator should have a clear head, and should be able to be a role model for the team members. Also, the more the team leader is transparent and honest, the more would be the trust.

What is the recipe for motivation? There are many theories about motivation, the top one being the one published in 1959 by the American behavioral scientist, Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation – Hygiene theory - Two-factor Theory.

This theory rightly states that there are certain factors that cause job satisfaction and there are another set of factors that lead to dissatisfaction. The popular belief is that good salaries can motivate employees. Even though all employees would like to have better salaries, salary is not a great motivator in reality. If an employee is highly paid but his/her work is not recognized or his/her growth is not defined in an organization, then definitely the employee will be dissatisfied.

Many employees strive to put an extra mile, if their work or their role in the team is appreciated. They will make every effort to maintain the ‘status quo’ at any cost, since they know that their team leader recognizes their role and contribution. Sometimes, just a “pat on the shoulder” in public would motivate even an under performer.

I know a team leader who used to assign tough jobs to comparatively greenhorns without any specific instruction or without setting a forum for feedback. The only statement he used to make is ‘go and dig for information’. This is absolutely absurd. A team leader assuming the role of a motivator should be direct and precise when dealing with new or not so skilled employee who is supposed to learn a new skill. I believe that raw recruits need specific direction, space to make mistakes and encouragement in the form of continued support.

Another example for a Team Leader’s failure in motivating a highly skilled employee who lacked self-confidence is interesting to note. The employee always felt down and produced mediocre output. However, the Team Leader did not make any effort to motivate the employee or boost his morale and instead kept on blaming him. Finally, the company lost an employee who was highly skilled just because his performance graph went into a spin. A closed-door talk to boost the employee’s self confidence in his own skills by the Team Leader was the simplest antidote for the problem. Mentoring (please read my article on Mentoring) also would have averted this unpleasant situation.

During the post recession era, many companies suffered business disruption forcing them to downsizing or layoffs. In such difficult times, don’t expect the managers or team leaders to motivate the team as s/he her/himself doesn’t know the fate of the business or not confident about the security of his/her own job. Many companies even now suffer from this ‘legacy’ that led to distrust among the team members and team leaders. Businesses that survived the economic ‘tsunami’ succeeded in insinuating confidence and trust among their employees through initiatives founded on transparency.

Sometimes awards also contribute to motivation. However, the credibility depends on the selection process and who are the adjudicators. Recently in the Indian subcontinent, Corporate or Business awards got a ‘slap’ when previous year’s ‘high-profile winners’ swept away in the recession flood exposing the fallacy of such awards. Also, it is a known fact that some awards are instituted by these “Yes For-Profit” Companies who accept money in the form of sponsorship for the gala ceremony and declare ‘winners who are their ‘patrons’. Motivation thus ‘bought’ is different from what I am trying to depict here.

Delegation also improves the recipe, as through the act of delegation, the manager is showing trust and confidence in his/her subordinate. While delegating, managers should make sure that the most experienced employee is chosen for delegating. If favoritism is a criterion while selecting the employee for delegation, other members may get dissatisfied (“demotivated”).

Communication is also important for motivation in a corporate environment. If there is no proper communication, slowly the employees would get demotivated and quality of work deteriorates.

Anyway, we need good managers who understand the value of motivation and we need employees who would be smart enough to get motivated. My hypothesis is that there is a disparity in the manger: subordinate ratio, as “smarter employees” are more than the “good managers” in the corporate world. Please prove me wrong!
Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

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E for Employee

2009-10-05T07:20:00.000+05:30

Every organization harbors the most specialized and evolved species known as the employees. Bigger the company, wider will be the diversity. On a closer look, you would see that even though the objective of all employees are the same (to work for the employer and get paid), the approach, attitude and commitment of each individual differs. Employee behavior has an impact on the attitude of their direct supervisor and the corporate culture too (please read the article Thy Lead the Ship).

A newly joined employee produces the best of his/her capability during the first few weeks (or maximum up to the probation period). This is basically, because of the demand to impress the boss till the job is confirmed. During this time, he/she will also absorb the entire grapevine, identifies the power centers in the company and try to amend the style of functioning accordingly. Some deviations in employee style of functioning depend on the nature of the job and the job position too. The universal truth is that in almost all cases, the initial enthusiasm of a new ‘joinee’ diminishes after the probation period.

On the contrary to the above doctrine, I was fortunate to have an employee in the support group, who always ‘nag’ me for more work, when her workload declines. Even now, after 3 years in the company, she make sure that she works minimum nine hours daily, even though the legitimate working hours is eight hours only. At times, if there is nothing assigned, she goes to the Stationery Store and assist in counting or to the records room to ensure that files are well organized. I have to agree that there are few employees who work from their heart and leave an impression in the organization they work for.

In addition, few employees give 100% attention during the allotted working hours. Certain companies, where there is no target or where it is impossible to clock the work, the employees tend to set their own timeline to complete the tasks assigned. In companies where there the work is measured and there are set time bound targets, then the employees are required to finish the tasks at a pre-defined timeframe. In such situations, the employee is required to acquire time management skills.

I know one accountant, who basically is not a go-getter and lazy, lags in his work and always end up spending time in office during holidays or forced to put extra hours, especially during the closing of accounts. Some employees purposely delay work so that they get benefited from the Overtime policy of the company. This is where the Supervisor’s inability to manage his/her people and time effectively will get exposed. Supervisors should have an idea of the minimum time required to complete a particular task so that while evaluating the employee/work he/she can evaluate the performance of the employee. Overtime (other than in production departments, in manufacturing sector) should be banned in all companies.

The latest diversion accounting for nonproductive hours is due to the fact that the employees are spending too much time on social networking sites like Facebook or Orkut or Twitter. Previously, the menace was the chat programs, followed by free music download websites and now the social networking sites. There is ongoing debate on the positives and negatives of the usage of social networking sites worldwide. Recently, some companies in UK allotted legitimate hour for the employees to browse such sites during working hours.

Occasionally, I have noticed that employees updating their status in such sites with their work details like which project they are working on or what they are preparing etc. This sometimes may infringe corporate dossier. I recall reading an employee loosing her job because she had posted negative comments about her job forgetting that her boss is also in the friend’s list. It is a known fact that nowadays, Talent sourcing professionals and HR professionals log on to such sites to map character, attitude and social behavior of their candidates or employees.

The latest menace at work is the Blackberry (BB). Even though BB is a great communication tool, the chat programs (MSN, Yahoo) interfere with the work rhythm. The alert tones related to these programs also bother other employees stationed in the vicinity.

Loyalty is another ‘fancy’ word we hear in the corporate world linked to employees. I would address an employee as loyal, when he/she dedicates his/her time and effort for the work, effective utilization of company’s resources, working hours and keep the work details confidential. I hate those employees who got stuck in a job for many years and the management or the HR department labels them ‘loyal’. This is ridiculous. This is not loyalty, the employee got stuck because s/he has lots of weaknesses or lack of knowledge or has the understanding that s/he may not get hired elsewhere or s/he lacks the attitude to take a stride for the career or has any other ‘vested’ interest to be in the company. This should not be glorified as loyalty and give extra attention.

Coming late to work is another issue, which tarnishes image of even a very good employee as well. In the private sector, HR interventions including installation of biometric based time and attendance systems complemented with policies penalizing tardiness are prevalent. Definitely, this would curb late coming. I still can’t digest of the fact that Kerala State employees collectively objected the initiative of implementing time and attendance system (punching system). Such employees should be employed elsewhere, especially in the GCC countries, so that they will learn how to honor the work timings along with other attributes. Among the state employees, I personally feel those who deserve a flexi time (and salary hike too) other than the doctors are those in law enforcement personnel (state police).

Wasting time over the phone is another negative workplace behavior in many companies. This I have seen largely among female employees. Either they call their own spouse (as if they didn’t had time to talk at home) or friends. The topics range from lunch menu to party wears. Any call beyond 3 minutes is a crime in a corporate setting, if it is not related to business. Another atrocious act is to call the colleague sitting in the very next workstation, using the corporate voice network and chatting for hours during work hours. There is probability of loosing business by the company as a potential client’s call was missed during which the phone was engaged or unanswered (if call waiting is active).

There is a limit for the HR, the Supervisor or HR policies to curb and amend employee workplace behaviors. These attitudes should come from the employee himself/herself. Employees should have the attitude and culture to identify and correct such behaviors that tampers the work and productivity.

Awareness through the corporate web portal or newsletters to an extent may work. If it is a small team, such negative behaviors get exposed in quick time, but in big corporate houses, such employees may hide as a drop in the ocean. As the saying goes, ‘Work is Worship’. In that context, is the salary you are taking is justifiable? How many employees can say with honesty, that s/he deserve the salary as s/he worked with total dedication and commitment?

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every Monday) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly leave your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

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In Pursuit of a Perfect Mentor!

2009-09-27T21:44:00.000+05:30

To have a Mentor is the best blessing anyone who is serious about his or her career or business. A Mentor is not your parent, or a relative or a friend or a well wisher. Mentors are normally experienced and well balanced individuals. Mentor’s role is to provide you with the best advice at the right time and importantly, to alert when you are in the wrong track.

Most well-established and organized Organizations have well-structured, in-house Mentoring programs for the benefit of their human capital.

If you have a choice to choose your own Mentor then try to do some homework before you ‘pick one’. The important factors to ponder is to have a person who understands you, appreciates your strengths, suggest corrective measures for your negatives and who has at least 15 minutes per business day to spare with you. Ensure that this person doesn’t have a history of being a dictator or possess selfish interests and is well aware of his/her own weaknesses as well.

When I started my career, I was fortunate or unfortunate to have someone as my Mentor as well. My Mentor was a highly educated, creative person with in-depth knowledge and immense patience. After couple of months into the association, I realized that certain advices provided by my own Mentor have some borderline, which he wants me not to cross. Many instances, my positives were downplayed to bring my morals down. In the long run, I was mature enough to recognize such an action would be detrimental to my career. Further more. I realized that the motive behind such a script was to make sure that I would never exceed someone we known in common. Anyway, looking back, through Mentoring, I gained considerably, but at the expense of my dream. My dream to get a doctoral degree was somehow debugged from my thoughts. Also, it is very important for the Mentors to understand that when a youngster approaches you, they place you next to God. In such cases, Mentor should be extremely careful and diligent while delivering advices, because, at an young age and if the Mentee (protégé.) idolizes the Mentor, then the damage that would result from a wrong suggestion will be tremendous for the Mentee.

After many years, I was fortunate to be a Mentor for one of my co-workers. As a Mentor, I can proudly say that I transformed this person to a ‘go-getter’. After my exit from the organization, this person really did face some issues from the new management, which is natural. But with the survival techniques he learned and the exceptional talent he developed, this person proved his worth and earned well-deserved career advancement. Why I succeeded as a Mentor in this case is purely because, I never had any hidden agenda and I was mature enough to accommodate and appreciate a subordinate’s success.

The most rewarding experience as a Mentor is in the case of one of my co-workers during my stint in one of the GCC countries. Her career transformation was started when I hired her in spite of her lack of previous experience in Human Resources Management. She had experience in handling marketing activities in an organization prior joining my department. During the interview itself I could observe her persistence, perseverance and her passion for success. She was guided to become an HR Professional, with the highest degree of professionalism and ethics. Through our association, her thinking process was streamlined and her outlook for life was realigned. Her inborn nature to uphold human values also played an important role for her success as an HR professional. During the program she did enhance her knowledge bank that complemented her career. After 2 years, she moved to one of the leading corporate houses and her career is all set to take a big stride.

If you ask me the reasons behind this success story, it is not because of my timely advice or guidance but because of the Mentee’s eagerness to learn and willingness to listen. A Mentee should be non egoistic and receptive to ‘get’ more from a Mentor.

The foremost success factor in any Mentoring program is having a proper communication channel. By that, even if the Mentor or the Mentee leaves the Organization (if your Mentor is in the same Organization), Mentor can continue to provide you with guidance that would tender assistance to the Mentee to climb the rungs of the corporate ladder.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every Monday) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.
Kindly leave your valuable comments.
stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2009

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Thy Lead the Ship!

2009-09-20T20:25:00.000+05:30

The following is my view on leadership and it may differ from what is depicted in our management textbooks. My advice for our younger MBA aspirants is to look for real-life examples before you comprehend most of the textbooks and ‘gyans’ as they may not help you while facing real-time issues in business.

A leader is the one, who knows the pulse of the business, who could measure the heartbeat of his/her team and should be well versed in the articulation and implementation of action plans and importantly, upholds ethical values. In addition, he/she should have a big heart. In my opinion, these are the basic requisites.

Concisely, a leader is the person who leads from the front. Wikipedia defines Leadership as “Leadership is and has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. A definition more inclusive comes from former President of Sri Lanka Mrs. Chadrika Kumaratunga’s keynote speech at the plenary session of Rotary Institute on September 18, 2009. She said, “The good leaders are those who possess a vision for a better tomorrow, not only for one’s self, but also for others. I dare say that this must be based on a foundation of ethical values” (The New Indian Express, Saturday, September 19, 2009).

So without an argument, a person when put into a team setup or placed at the reigns of a company should be leading or guiding the team from the front. All epics and holy books mention about leaders, basically the kings or emperors or great warriors who used to lead from the front to attack the opposition for good or bad causes.

I have seen many ‘leaders’ over the years, especially the chief executives who are the “archangels” of their businesses. If I say all of them fit into the criteria of a leader, I am sure the readers will say that, ‘this guy is a liar’.

Some are great leaders and would die for his/her team, but for them business objectives comes second. I call them “losers”. Few at the top reign fake that they are true leaders, but in realty, they are just hypocrites. They don’t know anything about business, management; they don’t delegate (their lack of ignorance lead them to become Control Freaks) and lacks flair in people management. They just have mediocre knowledge and lacks practical solutions. They pretend to be critical and strive for quality, even though they don’t have any yardstick to measure the quality. The biggest asset they possess is to “Bull S**t”. I would call them “traitors” or “dictators” (if they are Control Freaks too). During crisis, such ‘leaders’ often have seen dumping their team and company as well.

Some have an attitude of “not to hurt anyone” and I phrase them “survivors”. This attitude I have noticed in those who reached the highest position through one of the ‘short-cuts’. So to hide their inadequacies, they would try to ‘buy in’ all subordinates through this “no hurt” policy. In such an environment, non-performers will also get rewarded, which sometimes hurts the performers and jeopardize the team-ship.

Very few are “true or genuine leaders” who would manage his/her resources and the team professionally and drives the business to success. Unfortunately, I have seen some of such true or genuine leaders withered away due to lack of support from their own Board of Directors or investors. Regarding the quality of the people sitting in such Boards, I would spend another folio for that later under the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Leadership can be taught at Business Schools? Maybe to a certain degree! Like we have Film Institutes to teach acting. Possibly, we can instill the desired traits in a human being through a structured curriculum. The success ratio (number of them reaching greater heights) is debatable or researchable. Still, I strongly believe that like acting, leadership should also be a ‘built-in” trait.

You can judge a person’s leadership ability if you put him/her into a real-life situation which demands such a quality to excel. Era of Recession provided an array of examples of those “losers”, “traitors” and “survivors” being swept away. Unfortunately, few genuine “true or genuine leaders” also lost their battleground, mainly not because of their faults.

How many leaders you may need in a company? At least one, I would say for a small sized company, but the person should be a true or genuine leader. If there is only one known leader in an Organization (and that too not the business owner or the chief executive), then the company is at high risk. Upon exit of this leader, then many of his/her “followers” will also follow suit. This would be detrimental for the organization. Another scenario is that if there is no leader at all in an organization, many quality or smart employees will “pick the doors” much earlier once this fact is discovered and before the organization draws shutters.

Please keep visiting http://stateoftheartconsulting.blogspot.com/ (every Monday) for more on the series “Fearless or Shameless”.

Kindly leave your valuable comments.

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com

© stateoftheartconsulting 2009

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Why we end up in the wrong job?

2009-09-14T12:40:00.004+05:30

When I asked this question to many recruiters, they said, “Because very few job seekers seek the assistance of a professional career/job counselor”. Is it true? Then I have a question. Do we have qualified career counselors in India? Or we should blame our parents who script our future? Or should be blame our education system? No, No, if we sit and find reasons, this blog will go into folios.

More importantly, our fresh graduates or degree holders don’t have proper guidance to choose a most suitable career for them. This is unfortunate. Even after the toiling 15 – 17 years in schools and universities our children are not mentally equipped to take the right decision. Some are lucky to ‘follow their dreams”.

How many of our MBAs and professionals (not doctors and engineers, as these careers are already embedded in the ‘gene’ from the day our kids are sent to school) can say with honesty that they found their dream job or at least they are in the right track of reaching their dream destination? Not many, because there is no true or genuine avenues from where our job seekers can get a full session of career counseling. All counselors I know (at least) have their own targets and ‘hidden agenda’ to cross sell their affiliates or their courses. Do you expect our children will get a quality advice from such ends? I believe that a career counseling cannot be done just by sitting with the aspirant for an hour or so and just having a look at his/her mark sheets. Proper counseling should be done based on series of screening tests and assessments and it may take 3-4 sessions or sittings.

Sometimes we end up taking up a job due to desperation, or due to other pressures. This situation I have witnessed among the job seekers in the Gulf Countries. I personally know a gold medallist Mechanical Engineer working as an Admin Assistant in a trading company selling cosmetics. The person was forced to take up any job due to his financial situation and also he was under the mercy of a friend for the day-to-day living while in a foreign land during the job hunt. His primary objective was to ‘western union’ the money (lion-share of his meager salary) like millions of other expatriates to his family. The secondary objective was just to free his friend’s burden as he has to support his family as well.

Some people just don’t bother to pursue their dream job, even though they have the potential and the time at their disposal. One of my best friends is employed as a secretary for more than 10 years and without any change in his salary, job title and work environment. He stopped upgrading himself and settled for that job till now. In this case, attitude is the culprit.

I have witnessed that few job seekers forge their CV/resumes based on the job advertisement. This is suicidal. You can fool a recruiter through a well ‘crafted’ CV / Resume. You can even impress an interviewer by doing some homework as well, if lady luck is with you. But when it comes to reality, it is very easy to get exposed, if you lack the know-how to handle a situation, which demands experience rather textbook or Internet knowledge.

So to find the right job, you need to have a dream, then a passion to fuel your actions to take you there. Always listen to your inner voice. Also, you need to constantly get updated from all sources about your dream destination; you should be the judge to refine the data you have collected as people have the tendency to exaggerate. Of course you need to be lucky as well!

stateoftheartconsulting@gmail.com
© stateoftheartconsulting 2009

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