Bizaholic

Evolution Determines Brand's Longevity

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Brands need to evolve with time. Every marketer knows this. Yet more often than not, established brands fail because they did not feel the need to evolve with time. The mentality that takes brands down the drain is - "why fix something that ain't broken yet?" The answer to this mentality is - "if your brand doesn't stay relevant to an evolving consumer, she will dump you and you will not know what hit you and when."

Some brands know this fact of life and adapt themselves and their communication from time to time in their quest to remain relevant in consumer's life.

Over the years, Cadbury has moved from "The real taste of life" to "Khane walon ko khane ka bahana chahiye" to "Shubh Aarambh" to "Mithe mein kuch mitha ho jaye" thereby always staying in the heart of the consumers and keeping the relationship glowing. Cadbury never becomes outdated.

Similarly, Airtel has kept its relationship with consumers intact and endearing through smart shift in communication - "Touch tomorrow", "Live every moment", "Express yourself", "Barriers break when people talk", "Har dost jaroori hota hai."

Tata Tea took the engagement level with consumers to a new high with the path breaking "Jaago Re" campaign and now it is making another shift through "Sonch Badlo" communication.

There are many more examples where successful brands have constantly evolved themselves to walk hand in hand with evolving consumers. The results are there to see. They are growing and becoming stronger in a highly competitive environment.

But there are perhaps an equal number of brands that have faded or are slowly fading from memory because they refused to evolve all the while thinking that there was nothing wrong with them. Some iconic and many good brands of past like Iodex, Amrutanjan, Keo Karpin, Vicco, HMT, Dalda, Binaca, Forhans, Halo, Ambassador, Boroline, Palmolive, etc. had to bite the dust because they failed to keep the connect with ever evolving consumers having numerous choices. Even generic brands are not immune to failure if they fail to evolve.

The lesson is simple - evolve or perish!

Is Your Organization Having Systems Obsession Disorder?

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:53:00 +0000

Many organizations have a bias towards having systems and processes for everything under the sun. The intention is always good but practical implications of this "excessive systems orientation" may be seriously detrimental to an organization's well being.

Once the system orientation has taken its roots, people get more concerned about systems rather than what is good or bad for the organization. As a result, systems and processes that were designed to be means to an end become an end in themselves.

If systems and processes for everything can run an organization, what is the need for human resources? By design, systems and processes should be efficient servants to help human resources run an organization. The moment they become master, trouble starts!

New frontiers of innovation and growth can never be conquered by treating an organization like a machine that can be run and controlled through systems and processes. Winning organizations believe in creating and nurturing an environment to unleash the human potential.

Working Under a Great Boss

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 06:50:00 +0000

Great bosses are rare. If you get one, you must be one of the lucky guys out in the corporate world. A great boss is not just a boss; s/he is also a mentor and friend who you can trust.

So far so good. But working with a great boss is not easy! Because great bosses are almost always highly demanding and tend to create high amount of pressure in the working environment. They purposely do it. It is not that their intention is bad; in fact they always have good intention for their subordinates.

A great boss doesn't look only in present. They also have an eye on future. So they tend to focus on building capacity in their subordinates. Like an expert sports trainer, they stretch their subordinate's limits continuously to build higher and higher capacity. They use all tactics at their disposal to create as many learning opportunities for their subordinates. And sometimes that means asking the subordinates to walk on fire!

If you work under a great boss, at times it may appear that the boss is too demanding and keeps you on your toes all the time while pushing a little too hard. But take all these in your stride as the boss is perhaps testing you and grooming you for bigger responsibilities. If you resent, you may be slowing your own chance of progress.

If you have a great boss, trust him or her and take everything as a challenge to give your best. And while you keep pace with your demanding boss, be assured that a benevolent soul wants you to succeed and is always willing to help, guide, and stand for you. Perhaps it takes some good karma to get a great boss!

Book Review: Man of a Thousand Chances

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:00:00 +0000

The best way to judge a novel is to check whether it keeps one interested enough to turn pages. On this parameter, Tulsi Badrinath's "Man of a Thousand Chances" does not disappoint. This is one novel which keeps your curiosity alive. The portrayal of a typical middle class life has been beautifully expressed with vivid details. If one has lived a middle class life at any point of one's existence, one will relate to the characters of the novel and will feel a part of the whole drama.

But this is not just a novel. It is a story entwined with art, philosophy, a little bit of business! As the story unfolds, one is subjected to heavy dose of philosophy and esoteric topics like law of karma and fate. The last few pages seem to be more focused on philosophical discourse rather than on bringing the story to its logical end. One may enjoy this or get distracted depending on one's views on life and philosophy. And in between, courtesy a mad numismatologist, you get transported on a time machine to witness history ranging from court of Jehangir to battle field of Alexendar and Porus!

"Man of a Thousand Chances" is a novel about Harihar, a middle class man, and his wife Sarla. It is a story about their struggle, duties, responsibilities, aspirations, and fate. Harihar, a man of few means, works in a museum. Faced with his responsibility to marry his daughter and arrange a respectable marriage ceremony, he steals a rare gold coin of the Jehangir era to pawn it to generate short term cash for his daughter's marriage. He intends to replace it back in museum as soon as his fixed deposit is up for maturity. Then a string of events take place - bankruptcy of the finance company where he had his fixed deposit, followed by the coin moving into the hands of a numismatologist, planned robbery in museum, Sarla making big money in day trading, and murder of the sahukaar who had given loan in lieu of the coin. By the end of this roller coaster ride, Harihar and Sarla, who had developed emotional distance during the course of their married life, became more aware of each others presence and started coming closer, emotionally.

The only problem is that at times, due to excessive use of flowery language to vividly describe situations, the narrative becomes a drag and one wants to skip and jump. Also, at the end, the story does not appear to be realistic as too many unrelated coincidences happen one after another in quick succession to protect Harihar from the charge of theft. Law of karma, fate, or a novelist's imagination? It is for the reader to decide.

Overall a good read.

Talking Leader or Listening Leader?

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:31:00 +0000

There are some leaders who talk a lot and others who listen a lot. Although this is more of a personality trait, it affects the performance, effectiveness, and morale of the men and women the leader leads. This prompts a question: who is better - a talking leader or a listening leader?

The essence of leadership is empathy. Without showing a high degree of empathy, it is very difficult to lead. While leadership is directly concerned with vision, direction, decision making, building capability, and delivering results, it is empathy which acts as an enabler. And high degree of empathy is directly linked with effective listening!

The problem with a talking leader is that unknowingly he ends up alienating the team instead of aligning them to a common goal. By talking too much and with authority, he discourages diverse view points on a subject and thereby forcefully imposes his own view points. This may work where the capability of his followers is weak and his experience exhaustive. But if he is leading a strong and capable team, he may get trapped within his own world view and miss other better alternatives and get bogged down with the side effect of sending the passion within the team for a toss!

To sum up, a leader needs to be assertive and decisive but not talkative and imposing. He needs to listen to the heart of his followers and then use empathy, persuasion, and experience to help draw the best possible road map and align the entire team to rally around it. Outstanding leaders do not impose decision; they make their followers feel as if the decision is their own!

Book Review: Consumer India

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:17:00 +0000

India is a booming market that seems to be the new land of promise. But promises apart, Indian market is a complex labyrinth. Succeeding in Indian market requires careful unravelling of the minds of consumers. Naturally, any book written on Indian consumer generates interest. It started with Rama Bijapurkar's "We are like that only" followed by Santosh Desai's "Mother Pious Lady". The latest in this series is Dheeraj Sinha's "Consumer India".

Being a marketer, I picked up the book in excitement to enhance my own understanding of the Indian consumer. The book promises insights into Indian consumer's mind and wallet. However, the start seems to be more like a book on social history of India. The first half of the book is largely uninteresting with only occasional real insights. For most of the first half, the book seems to be a generalized version of cultural changes that happened in Indian society post liberalization. The flow of thoughts keeps swinging from one topic to another without a central theme and you wonder what story the author is trying to tell you. Very much like some of the Bollywood movies which fail to outline a plot till intermission happens!

The interest level gradually picks up in second half of the book. Chapter on "Meaningful technology" is an interesting read on how Indians view technology. The author successfully delivers a strong insight for marketers - in India, technology needs to be adapted to consumer's life rather than consumers adapting to new technology. In the middle of the chapter, "Branding the Bazaar", there are some interesting stories about some real brands and how they captured the imagination of Indian consumer. Following chapters on "Youth vs Youthful", "Seamless Savitris" and "Small is Big" are also interesting except for a few dull paragraphs.

To sum up, the book didn't live to its potential. It could have been much more interesting, insightful, and reader friendly had it been structured rigorously. Also, the author keeps changing his writing style. It wavers between academic and conversational which affects readability.

So if you are a marketer or business professional, you may read this book for a quick review of cultural changes that took shape in the post liberalized India. But don't expect mind boggling or path breaking consumer insights. To sum up, Dheeraj Sinha's "Consumer India" ends up as a poor cousin to Santosh Desai's "Mother Pious Lady".

Book Review: Employees First, Customers Second

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:06:00 +0000

About 6 months back, I tweeted, "In next 10 years, many successful organizations, irrespective of size, will become hierarchy free." After reading Vineet Nayar's extraordinarily revolutionary book "Employees First, Customers Second", I am confident that hierarchy-free organizations are possible!

Most of the companies are run based on rules and management theories conceptualized 30-40 years ago. Times have changed. The business environment has drastically changed. Technologies have changed. The way people interact has changed. But unfortunately, companies, even today, are run as if nothing has changed. The outdated ways of running business continues. Hardly any leader is seen challenging the conventional wisdom. "Employees First, Customers Second" challenges conventional way of running a business and shows that if conventional wisdom is turned upside down, the results are miraculous.

This is a very timely book for the management fraternity. The basic premise of this book is to consider employees as the top most priority and how this approach can create much higher value than any other management approach. But at a much deeper level, this book is all about challenging the status quo and not considering anything in the management world as sacrosanct. It is about a journey on executing radical changes in small bites rather than one clean sweep. It provides a fresh perspective on change management that is relevant to the current times and future.

"Employees First, Customers Second" outlines some radical ideas that transformed HCL Technologies. The idea of putting employees above everything else and empowering them is the core of the book. This is a revolutionary idea because it has the potential to change the entire dynamics of the organization. It can change the power equations, increase the degree of trust within the setup, enhance the level of engagement among employees, unleash a wave of innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and demolish layers of hierarchy to make the organization agile, aggressive, proactive, and creator of extraordinary value for all the stakeholders. In my view, this idea has the potential to become a universal management approach workable across various industries and organizations.

Another idea that makes sense is about clearly seeing where an organization is and where it wants to reach. This is a simple yet profound idea - feet grounded in reality, wings ready to reach for the sky. Often leaders and managers know where they want to take their organization, but they don't realistically evaluate where they stand at a given point of time. Due to this, plans that are made become flawed. The key to start any change management program is to start with an in-depth understanding of the reality of the situation. Without objectively looking into the mirror of present, one can never plan for the glory of future.

The book also talks about trust as the building block of superior value creation. In today's highly competitive times, there is more distrust than trust in most of the organizations. Instead of focusing on creation of value through collaboration, people are often worried about who is planning what and how to control information to their advantage. This level of distrust never allows an organization to realize true potential of its employees. The ideas in the book direct the focus on importance of building trust in an organization through transparency and fairness. It shares some radical ideas leaders can employ to win the trust of their employees and encourage a culture of collaboration to unfold the real potential of their organizations to create value.

The book talks about inverting the pyramid of organizational hierarchy to empower the employees operating in the value creation zones. This means making leaders, managers, and enabling functions accountable to the employees to the same extent that an employee is accountable to his managers, leaders, and enabling functions. It's about a new way of balancing the power. This radical approach has the potential to rewrite the rules of power. With this kind of reverse accountability, the powers that are normally concentrated in few hands gets equitably and democratically redistributed among the entire workforce. This approach in a single stroke changes the nature of power. Power, no longer, is generated through position or span of control; it is generated through span of influence! This is an idea that can instantly make art of management a collaborative process rather than the conventional authoritative process.

Another radical idea discussed in the book is about the role of a CEO. In today's complex and ever changing world, is it just to expect a CEO to have an answer for everything? Is a CEO sitting in the corner office the best person to judge a situation at ground zero and take decisions? Should responsibility for an organization's well being be only with the CEO or should it be distributed among employees? The book talks about recasting the role of a CEO to make him an enabler who helps his people who have the knowledge to take decisions. The envisioned role sees the CEO as a person who should ask deep probing questions and let his people answer them rather than try to answer questions. The whole idea is to recast the role of a CEO to let him focus his energy on making the organization self directed rather than directed through authority vested in layers of hierarchy.

Overall, the book is nothing less than a management gem. The ideas discussed in it are thought provoking and seriously challenge leaders and managers to think beyond what they know and practice. This book can be the start of the end of conventional ways of managing a business or an organization based on authority, control, and hierarchy. The ideas in the book have the potential to spark debate among new age management thinkers and unleash new management philosophies and thoughts for managing businesses that are more in synch with the time and make the conventional management practices outdated.

The book is a must read for every CEO and anyone, directly or indirectly, engaged in the practice of management.

Sense of Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:45:00 +0000

One of the biggest challenges that a leader faces is creating a 'sense of purpose' among his people. Human beings are moved when they are convinced that they are making a big difference and are part of something big. If people think their work as daily routine, they are never going to be deeply involved to the organization and its purpose. The challenge, then, is to involve each and every person right from the lowest rung to the highest. The key is to convince them that their work in some way, directly or indirectly, is contributing to the achievement of the bigger purpose and their work is valuable.

Take the example of someone who does clerical work in an organization.Most of the time neither he is aware how he is contributing to the organizational purpose nor the leaders think much about the work he does. His work is seldom valued even though if he is there the organization definitely needs him and he must be having a small role to play in the larger scheme of things. With this lack of connection between his role and the larger purpose, he works but rarely with his heart in his work.

Most often the leader engages less than 50% of his people. These are key people who may be contributing to the achievement of 80% of the purpose. But the 50% people whose work is linked to achievement of balance 20% of the purpose are often forgotten. As a result, half of the people are not at all engaged with what's happening with the organization. They work for the sake of working; not for making something big happen. In such a scenario, the organization works with half its human potential. An organization is a giant wheel with hundreds and thousands of spokes. To keep the wheel moving at optimal speed, one needs to take care of all spokes and maintain them well. Even a few broken spokes can either make the wheel slow down or result in an accident.

It is worth remembering that any organization is a bundled mass of human potential. Without a sense of purpose, you see and get what is on the surface. With a sense of purpose, the hidden potential lying beneath the surface explodes to create remarkable things - things which were never thought to have been possible!

Stability or Mobility?

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Is staying too long with a company good or bad? Is mobility in career essential for growth? These are the questions I am grappling with.

There are no right or wrong answers for these questions. It's a gray area where the correct answer will vary from company to company depending upon the internal and external factors affecting it.

There are instances when a company hires people from outside who have similar experience and talent as the inside guy at higher grade and remuneration package. The company in such cases takes the loyal insider for granted and frequently overlooked. It becomes an issue of unfair treatment where the guy who is coming from outside is treated like a royalty while the internal guy despite better talent and expertise seems to lose out.

Then there are instances when the growth of a manager becomes stagnant. If a company cannot provide challenging roles to its managers on a regular basis, chances are high that the manager's learning will suffer and he will get trapped in a well from where he cannot have a proper view of the other world.

There is yet another trap associated with working for long in a single company. One tends to get into a comfort zone. The problem with comfort zones is that if one enters it, it is extremely difficult to get out from it. Comforts zone spoils a manager and drastically affects the manager's ability to adjust in a new role and a new environment.

Here are few pointers which should guide one in deciding whether to stick to the company for long or move on to better opportunities in other company -

As long as the company is providing new growth opportunities at regular interval, there is no harm in staying with it.
When there is clear indication that learning curve is becoming flat, it is prudent to move on.
If the company is fairly treating one in terms of benefits and compensation vis-a-vis new managers hired from outside with similar experience and expertise, one should stay on. In other words, if company undermines one's market worth, one may consider a change.
The moment one feels that one is entering a comfort zone, it's time either to reconfigure the present role within the company or to look for new job.
For a manager who has a desire to be known as a generalist rather than a specialist, it is prudent to change industry at regular intervals to get a hang of how things move in various industries.
Lastly, one should be aware of one's inner feeling towards the current work in a company. If one is loving one's work, enjoying it, and finding it invigorating, it makes sense to stick to it.

Problem Solving Through Owner's Mindset

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:10:00 +0000

There is one management principle that never fails to deliver. It is - "whenever faced with a critical situation demanding urgent action, think that you are the owner and think of what all you will do if your personal money is involved."

Two instances, in last few days, have demonstrated that managers can solve a problem faster and more effectively if they think of business problems as their personal problems and show the same kind of urgency they would when their own business or money is involved.

One mechanical billboard was malfunctioning since a couple of month for which the company was paying a monthly rental of Rs 4 lacs. Despite efforts from the various company personnel and agency, it was not getting properly rectified. Then a senior colleague told the company personnel entrusted with the job of getting it rectified to think that every month Rs 4 lacs is going from his pocket rather than company's pocket for the faulty billboard and asked him to do all he could if it were his money. The billboard got rectified in 2 days time!!

There was an outstanding recovery problem involving Rs 20 lacs. Somehow it was getting dragged for last 10 months. Nobody was taking as much interest in solving this problem as the gravity of the situation required. Then the same senior colleague gave his evergreen mantra to the sales manager - think that Rs 20 lacs is your money and what all would you do to recover it. Last heard, a chain reaction of actions took place to understand all aspects of the problem and evaluate all possible options to recover money!

The point I want to make is that this approach works. The moment one thinks that it is my money or it is my business, a sense of urgency sets in that helps in quicker decision making and problem solving. Any manager would do well to consider business problems as their own problems and then think of ways to solve them had this problem been their own. It would not be an exaggeration to say that outstanding managers view business problems by putting themselves in owner's shoes and responding like an owner.

Miracle happens when a manager thinks like an owner!

Why the boss must give his opinion at last?

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:42:00 +0000

When in company of boss, most guys speak the language of the boss. If the boss gives a strong opinion, 99% of his subordinates will give their opinion which validates the opinion of the boss. It's subordinate psychology. One always wants to be in good books of boss and doing something that validates the opinion or action of one's boss is a good way to earn brownie points. It's another matter that one may not believe in what one says or does to please his boss. As a result, decisions are taken based on the sole brain of the boss rather than the combined brain power of the team. This happens even though the intention of the boss may have been to utilize the collective wisdom of the team rather than force his own agenda.

Bosses need to understand this subordinate psychology. They must appreciate that putting forth his views too early may kill many ideas before they get a chance to be aired. A smart boss who wants to use the collective wisdom of his team must put forth a question and listen. Even the question needs to be framed in such a way that it doesn't indicate the opinion of the boss. If the boss, after asking the question, just prods others for their mind and keeps his opinion to himself till the time everyone has expressed their minds, chances are that the discussion will be more lively and fruitful. With this approach, ideas are judged by the merit they have rather than by the opinion of boss.

It is always prudent for a boss to speak his mind only after hearing the minds of his people. Any other way and the chances are high that the collective mind of the team will get coloured by the views of the boss.

Character of a Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:19:00 +0000

How do you assess the character of a manager? The simplest way, as far as I know, is to observe how he treats people who are below him. Everyone treats or pretends to treat his superiors with respect and dignity. But not everyone treats people who are junior with respect.

I have seen managers going overboard to the extent of openly buttering their bosses and people who can influence their career. But these same managers change colour like a chameleon when interacting with people who are junior or who don't have power to influence their career. I am astonished to see that even basic norms of courtesy are forgotten.

A great manager always treats his subordinates with the same level of respect that every human being deserves. He values the contribution of people junior to him and acknowledges it. He knows that treating people respectfully and fairly is the basic tenet of effective human relationship in every sphere of life. More often than not, this human quality helps a manager stand out in the crowd.

I Me Myself

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:29:00 +0000

These days a special breed of "I me myself" managers seems to be growing rapidly. These managers start their talk with "I" and end with "I" without blinking their eyelids. It seems that the sole purpose of this breed of managers is self glorification without acknowledging the efforts of other members of the team.

What a "I me myself" manager fails to understand is that his antics cannot sway a seasoned manager. Sooner than later the "I me myself" monologue becomes irritating. More than irritation, it throws some deeps insights about the "I me myself" manager like:

"He cannot be trusted with a team."

"He can never become a team builder."

"He will always try to steal credit from his subordinates. As a result motivation of his subordinates will suffer."

"He can create negative vibes in work environment."

"He has limited leadership capability."

It is always better to get rid of a "I me myself" manager for he is a big liability for any team. The sooner he is discarded, the better it is for an organization as he is a virus that can inflict significant collateral damage.

Storytelling For Better Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Two weeks back, while preparing for his presentation to his unit, a senior colleague was a bit puzzled on how to effectively communicate the vision without sounding boring and at the same time fuel them up with passion. Casually, I suggested to use the story of the transformation of a caterpillar to butterfly. After some discussion, he agreed to use the story to communicate his message.

The business unit in question is a nascent one. Small in size at present but with promise of future. Over the last one year, after he took over this small unit, he has remarkably transformed the unit and filled it with energy and enthusiasm that was never seen before. His passion became contagious. He wanted his team to understand and appreciate the bigger picture and not become complacent in newly found success. He wanted to convey that the future is going to be ten times brighter provided they keep working smartly in the right direction.

The story of the transformation of a caterpillar to butterfly gelled well with this situation. The transition phase of a caterpillar to cocoon and eventually to a beautiful butterfly after undergoing pain, struggle, and complete physical transformation provided the right backdrop for the unit. When he told the story to people in his unit, they related with it. When asked which stage were they, they promptly replied that they are cocoon and undergoing rapid transformation. They realized that a lot of hard work is still needed before they can fly like a beautiful butterfly. The story did it job. The message my colleague wanted to deliver got delivered; not in a boring manner but in an entertaining way that also generated positive energy.

The point that I want to make is that storytelling is the new way to effectively communicate in the corporate world. The world has become complex. Making sense of things in this complex world is increasingly becoming difficult. Too many models, too many theories, too many scenarios and most people sleep through the presentation.

Execution happens only if people understand the purpose and feel passionate about it. For this one needs to communicate effectively so that the message is hammered deep into the psyche without being annoying or confusing. And here storytelling scores over any other method of communication. All one needs is a good story to grab attention and then relate it to the business situation and the desired behaviour.

Leader is the Mirror of an Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:46:00 +0000

If an organization or its people are failing or under-performing, then the leader is to be blamed. The organization is worth as much as the capability of its leader to lead. Not any more or less. If the people fail to deliver results, the leader lacks the skill to lead. If the culture of an organization sucks, it is because the leader encourages, directly or indirectly, such culture. To sum it up, the buck stops at the leader's table.

When things are going wrong, there is no point in looking for scapegoats. One thing that needs to be carefully analyzed is whether the leader is leading the right way. In all probability he is not. For every ill of an organization, the cause leads to some element of the leadership.

If people are not performing, the leader is responsible. Either he has not communicated his vision properly, or he has encouraged incapable people to stay for too long. Or perhaps he has failed in putting right people to the right job.

If the organization is not doing well to deliver top line and bottom line, the leader has in all likelihood mismanaged resources and their allocation. Failing to diagnose business environment accurately to understand emerging trends and act on them may be another reason.

If culture and work ethics of an organization is a problem, the leader has failed in setting up processes that lead to desired culture.

So if one wants to analyze failure, success, or problems of an organization, the best place to start is at the top for everything at the bottom flows from the top!

The Role of Communication in Execution of Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:55:00 +0000

One often hears about the 'vision' thing in corporate corridors. Many times organizations witness shake-up and chaos because a new 'vision' has dawned upon the leader. Nothing wrong is having a 'vision' and doing what it is necessary to realize the vision in reality. Leaders are ultimately worth their 'vision' and its meticulous execution.

The worrying aspect about 'vision' is that it is useless if all the 'visioning' is confined to a select group of leaders at the top. 'Vision' must percolate down to the bottom of the organization if it has to become a reality! And this is one aspect where the leadership often fails and induces unnecessary confusion and chaos in the organization just because everyone is not aligned to the vision.

If the leader develops a new 'vision', his most important responsibility is to educate everyone in the organization from shop-floor worker to salesman at the lowest rung to the administrative clerk to the senior managers about his 'vision', how he is going to turn the vision into reality, and how everyone in the organization has a part to play in realization of the vision. Unless everyone in the organization, irrespective of the hierarchy, is aligned to the 'vision', it will remain a chimera in the head of the leader!

The 'vision' has to be vociferously and enthusiastically communicated to the extent that it is embedded at the back of the mind of every spoke of the wheel that keeps the organization running. In the end, the power of a 'vision' is as good as the power of persuasion of the communication that helps the 'vision' being owned by one and all in an organization!

Overcoming Resistance To Change

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Change management is resistance management. Most change management programs fail not because people don't see merit in them but because people fear about the impact of change on their lives and put up resistance.

The first and the foremost job of a leader leading a change program is to communicate and generate confidence. There is a catch here. If the communication is focused at the group, chances of eliminating resistance is low. Communication has to be at an individual level to assuage fear, explain the change, its positive impact on the individual, and sell the concept to bring the individual on the board!

Human nature is such that majority of people think about their own welfare before they think about their group or organization. Only when welfare of self is achieved do they think of welfare of others. A leader of a change management program has to keep this in mind. If he wants the change program to succeed, he has to take change management to individual level to win confidence and participation.

Once an individual is convinced about the merits of a change program, not only will he overwhelmingly participate in it but will also sell its virtues to others in his peer group. A positive word of mouth can go a long way in helping a change program succeed. While a negative word of mouth can simply halt it.

The mantra to successfully lead change management is to engage the people at an individual level so that the change actually flows from the bottom up which is owned by the people themselves. Any thing forced is likely to be stalled with even greater force!

Restrictive Policies No Longer Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:36:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted a satire on the restrictive and regressive Internet policies of many companies. People who have seen the blockbuster movie Deewar would get it.

Company: Mere pass policy hai, access control hai, site blocking capability hai, tere pass kya hai?

Employee: Mere pass GPRS hai!!

I can't help but laugh when I come across Internet policies of companies which aim at blocking access to mail, social networking sites, and other websites. It doesn't work and in future also will never work. I, like many others of my generation, don't need office Internet to browse web, check mails, or indulge in social networking. My PDA phone is good enough to keep me connected to the world through mail, twitter, facebook, orkut, et al.

Today we are shifting towards an era when mobile phone would be the real convergence device for uniting telephony, Internet, and entertainment. Anybody who thinks of blocking access to Internet in this day and age is living in a fool's paradise.

The bigger issue to focus on is building trust at workplace. Days of restrictive policies to induce desired behavior among employees is over. Today we are faced with a generation which is interested in participative culture based on trust and empowerment. This generation doesn't need to be told when to play and when to work. Generally they are responsible enough if trusted with their capability. But the moment you try to control them through restrictive policies, they may just revolt and try to find a way or two to defy the grand policies in place. With the technology and knowledge available, they in all likelihood would succeed. And if they don't, they will quit and move to another company. Either way the loss is of the company.

Instead of investing time and effort in designing regressive policies, it would be much better if companies used same time and energy in making the workplace more trustful, more participative, and full of positive energy.

Heroes...be humble!

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:52:00 +0000

A week back, a reality stuck me while I was watching dahi-handi festival in Mumbai. Heroes stand tall on the robust shoulders of non-heroes. I was astonished to notice time and again that after succeeding in breaking the dahi-handi, although the whole team was cheered, it was the Govinda at the top of the human pyramid who was the darling of his team as well as the crowd! Despite the whole thing being 110% a team effort, where every member's contribution was equally vital, it was the Govinda who broke the dahi-handi who was the hero.

Heroes are everywhere and they are cheered and glorified and many a time are credited with the entire success of an effort even when contribution of many others was equally important. But heroes have a responsibility on their shoulders. They have to remember that they are heroes because many other lent their strong shoulders for the hero to stand and perform his astonishing feat. Without the able shoulders on which he stands, a hero is as good as useless.

So heroes, be humble if you want to stay a hero for long! Acknowledge that alone you are good for nothing and credit your team for helping you succeed. Keep your team in good humour and your team will ensure that you are always in the limelight. The moment you start thinking that you are a hero because of your own talents alone, it would be the start of the end of your status as a hero.

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 12/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"To manage or to coach? People will manage the work. By attempting to manage people you are limiting their potential. A manager is a title, it does not guarantee success. Coaching is an action, not a title and actions will result in successes!"

- Catherine Pulsifer

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 11/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

- Hyman Rickover

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 10/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"Insecure managers create complexity. Frightened, nervous managers use thick, convoluted planning books."

- Jack Welch

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 09/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge."

- Peter Drucker

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 08/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got."

- Lee Iacocca

Bizaholic Thought of the Day 07/07/2009

noreply@blogger.com (Bizaholic) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."

- Elbert Hubbard