I am jotting down some thoughts on entrepreneurship:
1. The motivational profile of an entrepreneur can be best understood in terms of 'Achievement Motivation' described by David C. McClelland. It is the need for achievement that drives a person to take the moderate, calculated risks of starting out on a new venture. The need for achievement gives him sufficient energy to face the hardships, and persist in the face of adversity.
2. I would suggest that youngsters fresh out of college must first take up a paid job, before starting out on their own. In several cases that we see around us, entrepreneurs are not able to rise to their full potential, due the lack of discipline and maturity that a formal work experience would give them. (Of course, this is not applicable to people of the calibre of Bill Gates.) The formal work experience, especially at a junior level, would also expose them to the world of employees, an understanding that is indispensable to any employer or entrepreneur. Another quality that entrepreneurs will have to gain through formal work experience is that of working in teams, and the ability to set aside ego issues. Too many ventures fail due to lack of team work.
3. Entrepreneurs fail to rise to their full potential when they think of themselves as perpetual entrepreneurs. They sometimes get stuck with the idea of entrepreneurship, and do not re-invent themselves as leaders of people and managers of the organizations they have established. Entrepreneurs do a great job, when they channel their achievement motivation to the goal of taking their current enterprise to the level of excellence, rather than being in a hurry to do the next big thing.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Managing in tough times
Today everyone who has something to do with money - economists, businessmen, housewives - are talking about economic downturn and recession.
Downturns can be opportunities for companies to get serious about transforming into lean enterprises, i.e., to identify wastages, and redefine processes to eliminate wastages. But unfortunately hard times also lead to knee-jerk reactions offered as fixes for managing the downturn. And most noticeable is the spate of lay-offs.
Listen to these words of caution in a recent newsletter by James P. Womack, Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, and co-author of 'Lean Thinking'. He was talking about ways to tackle the impending recession of 2009:
The very last thing to consider is the one thing managers seem to embrace most readily: cost cutting. This means leaving out steps and features that actually create value from the perspective of the customer and removing employees who are actually needed to get the job done right using the current process. The hope, usually wrong, is that the customer won't notice.
This last expedient is the one I most fear, because it is likely to be justified in the name of "lean". Every recession seems to produce a major cost-cutting campaign sold by traditional consultants. Their key promise is rapid financial payback, even within one quarter, and the only practical way to achieve this is layoffs. I truly hope that the recession of 2009 will not be known to history as the "lean" recession and everyone in the Lean Community should vow to avoid the cost cutting urge in their own organization.
Navigating in troubled waters require equanimity of mind - not only of the senior management team, but also of everyone in the organization. What can be more damaging than knee-jerk cost-cutting measures and lay-offs? Listen to the words -- most managers are talking about cost cutting, not cost management.
A few weeks ago, the largest private airlines in India, Jet Airways, laid off around 1900 employees. And took them back within 24 hours. What would be call this, other than knee-jerk reaction? That was certainly not the way to manage costs.
Recently I was at the new airport in Bangalore. I was impressed by the scale and grandeur of the airport. But it also made me think - why so much of wastage? Why should I bear the cost of such large scale civil and interior work, when all I wanted was to get to Mumbai by a low cost flight? I didn't want to spend my time lounging around as if I am in the lobby of a five star hotel. I was not on vacation, but on business.
Now, look at it - let the airlines and the airport authorities and all the stakeholders in the air travel ecosystem examine what the customers really want. Just give them that with minimum wastage. I for one, wanted economy and speed in getting from Bangalore to Mumbai. If someone wanted a luxurious lounge at the airport, they could have some exclusive space for them. That's OK, but most passengers wouldn't want to pay higher for that, especially when it is only a matter of a few minutes of waiting.
The key point here is this: save money by reducing wastage, not by the popular cost-cutting measures. Wastage is created when we don't build the value chain to deliver what the customer really wants. In the case of Bangalore airport, wastage is built into the infrastructure. Every customer and every airlines will pay the price for many years to come.
Downturns can be opportunities for companies to get serious about transforming into lean enterprises, i.e., to identify wastages, and redefine processes to eliminate wastages. But unfortunately hard times also lead to knee-jerk reactions offered as fixes for managing the downturn. And most noticeable is the spate of lay-offs.
Listen to these words of caution in a recent newsletter by James P. Womack, Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, and co-author of 'Lean Thinking'. He was talking about ways to tackle the impending recession of 2009:
The very last thing to consider is the one thing managers seem to embrace most readily: cost cutting. This means leaving out steps and features that actually create value from the perspective of the customer and removing employees who are actually needed to get the job done right using the current process. The hope, usually wrong, is that the customer won't notice.
This last expedient is the one I most fear, because it is likely to be justified in the name of "lean". Every recession seems to produce a major cost-cutting campaign sold by traditional consultants. Their key promise is rapid financial payback, even within one quarter, and the only practical way to achieve this is layoffs. I truly hope that the recession of 2009 will not be known to history as the "lean" recession and everyone in the Lean Community should vow to avoid the cost cutting urge in their own organization.
Navigating in troubled waters require equanimity of mind - not only of the senior management team, but also of everyone in the organization. What can be more damaging than knee-jerk cost-cutting measures and lay-offs? Listen to the words -- most managers are talking about cost cutting, not cost management.
A few weeks ago, the largest private airlines in India, Jet Airways, laid off around 1900 employees. And took them back within 24 hours. What would be call this, other than knee-jerk reaction? That was certainly not the way to manage costs.
Recently I was at the new airport in Bangalore. I was impressed by the scale and grandeur of the airport. But it also made me think - why so much of wastage? Why should I bear the cost of such large scale civil and interior work, when all I wanted was to get to Mumbai by a low cost flight? I didn't want to spend my time lounging around as if I am in the lobby of a five star hotel. I was not on vacation, but on business.
Now, look at it - let the airlines and the airport authorities and all the stakeholders in the air travel ecosystem examine what the customers really want. Just give them that with minimum wastage. I for one, wanted economy and speed in getting from Bangalore to Mumbai. If someone wanted a luxurious lounge at the airport, they could have some exclusive space for them. That's OK, but most passengers wouldn't want to pay higher for that, especially when it is only a matter of a few minutes of waiting.
The key point here is this: save money by reducing wastage, not by the popular cost-cutting measures. Wastage is created when we don't build the value chain to deliver what the customer really wants. In the case of Bangalore airport, wastage is built into the infrastructure. Every customer and every airlines will pay the price for many years to come.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
On attitudes and communication
What we describe as an attitude problem with an employee is more often an indicator of poor two-way communication between the employee and his or her immediate supervisor or reporting officer.
Attempts to correct the attitude through training and counselling usually do not have the desired impact. Many a times these efforts backfire, resulting in a more demotivated, despirited employee. This is often taken as proof that the employee really has an attitude problem, which needs serious correction.
When we look at it from a different angle, and treat it as a problem in communication, our interventions become different. We do not look at the individual employee with a desire to change him, but we look at the processes, especially the communication processes. We see the behaviour (which is labelled as attitude problem) as natural responses in a complex system of inter-relationships. The focus shifts from labelling and blaming to a joint investigation of the system, with the shared objective of improving its functioning.
Attempts to correct the attitude through training and counselling usually do not have the desired impact. Many a times these efforts backfire, resulting in a more demotivated, despirited employee. This is often taken as proof that the employee really has an attitude problem, which needs serious correction.
When we look at it from a different angle, and treat it as a problem in communication, our interventions become different. We do not look at the individual employee with a desire to change him, but we look at the processes, especially the communication processes. We see the behaviour (which is labelled as attitude problem) as natural responses in a complex system of inter-relationships. The focus shifts from labelling and blaming to a joint investigation of the system, with the shared objective of improving its functioning.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Aligned Flexibility
Here I am introducing a concept called 'Aligned Flexibility':
Aligned flexibility is having strategic alignment and operational flexibility.
Think of aligned flexibility as what happens in a football team. For every match the team has a clear goal: score more goals and defend their goal post. They have clarity about their strategy for the match, based on which they deploy the players for the offensive and defensive positions. Now, when the team gets into the game, there is a great deal of operational flexibility. The players dodge, pass and strike, responding spontaneously to what emerges in the field. They are translating the strategy into action, and playing within the rules of the game. They have goal clarity, alignment at the strategy level and a high degree of operational freedom.
Successful business organizations are not much different from winning football teams. They are characterized by aligned flexibility.
Aligned flexibility makes it possible for organizations to respond quickly to changes in their operating environment.
Aligned flexibility is having strategic alignment and operational flexibility.
Think of aligned flexibility as what happens in a football team. For every match the team has a clear goal: score more goals and defend their goal post. They have clarity about their strategy for the match, based on which they deploy the players for the offensive and defensive positions. Now, when the team gets into the game, there is a great deal of operational flexibility. The players dodge, pass and strike, responding spontaneously to what emerges in the field. They are translating the strategy into action, and playing within the rules of the game. They have goal clarity, alignment at the strategy level and a high degree of operational freedom.
Successful business organizations are not much different from winning football teams. They are characterized by aligned flexibility.
Aligned flexibility makes it possible for organizations to respond quickly to changes in their operating environment.
Reflections on Co-creation (Dr. CK Prahalad)
Dr. C.K. Prahalad observes that value is not created by the organization and sold to the customer; rather value is co-created along with the customers. In the new paradigm, organizations will have to learn to adapt and be agile to the emergence of new possibilities which are beyond the vision of the founders, and the strategies of the executive team.
Organizations operate as networks of stakeholders. Possibilities are discovered when members of the network engage in dialogue. They may not have the same vision, but they become ready to share, and even go to the extent of being selfless, because in some mysterious way that establishes a connection with their deeper aspirations.
Management in the co-creation paradigm is mutual and collaborative. The focus moves to management of relationships rather than resources.
Co-creation does not happen through restructuring or re-engineering. In fact often there is no need to tinker with the organization structure or hierarchy. Even flattening the organization may not be required. What is required for co-creation to happen is an openness to working together. It is mutual respect. Look at how a parent and child co-create a sand castle on the beach. See how they enjoy it! In the process they both derive value -- an enjoyable evening on the beach.
Co-creation is not customization. Customization is getting a different dressing for your sandwich. But it would be co-creation if you could get into the kitchen and stand by, occasionally giving your suggestions for the recipe, or tasting the item and giving feedback. In fact traditional kitchens are the best places of co-creation.
Co-creation is not choosing a different set of options when you buy a Dell computer. But it is co-creation when a child walks into a Build-a-Bear Workshop, builds her own teddy bear and walks out with unspeakable excitement. It makes her the happiest person on earth.
Choosing a different elective for your University course is not co-creation. But it would be co-creation if you had opportunities to collaborate with the teachers and make use of the resources at the University to put together a course for you as an individual learner. Co-creation is not choosing from a menu, it is creating the menu.
Organizations operate as networks of stakeholders. Possibilities are discovered when members of the network engage in dialogue. They may not have the same vision, but they become ready to share, and even go to the extent of being selfless, because in some mysterious way that establishes a connection with their deeper aspirations.
Management in the co-creation paradigm is mutual and collaborative. The focus moves to management of relationships rather than resources.
Co-creation does not happen through restructuring or re-engineering. In fact often there is no need to tinker with the organization structure or hierarchy. Even flattening the organization may not be required. What is required for co-creation to happen is an openness to working together. It is mutual respect. Look at how a parent and child co-create a sand castle on the beach. See how they enjoy it! In the process they both derive value -- an enjoyable evening on the beach.
Co-creation is not customization. Customization is getting a different dressing for your sandwich. But it would be co-creation if you could get into the kitchen and stand by, occasionally giving your suggestions for the recipe, or tasting the item and giving feedback. In fact traditional kitchens are the best places of co-creation.
Co-creation is not choosing a different set of options when you buy a Dell computer. But it is co-creation when a child walks into a Build-a-Bear Workshop, builds her own teddy bear and walks out with unspeakable excitement. It makes her the happiest person on earth.
Choosing a different elective for your University course is not co-creation. But it would be co-creation if you had opportunities to collaborate with the teachers and make use of the resources at the University to put together a course for you as an individual learner. Co-creation is not choosing from a menu, it is creating the menu.
Reflections on Management Innovation (Dr. Gary Hamel)
Proven high performance is an indicator of future high performance. But it is only an indicator of the possibility, not a gurantee of sustained performance in the fast changing world order.
Recent lessons from the Wall Street would certainly make all management thinkers rethink their paradigms of high performance.The reality of the emerging world order is characterized by a lack of insulation. Nobody, no individual, organization or nation is insulated from the effects of changes in other parts of the system.
Twenty years ago, people in the countrysides of India or Brazil would not be discussing the showdown on Wall Street. But today many of them are talking about it. Not because they read about it in the newspaper, but because they feel the impact.
In the twentyfirst century organizations, models of excellence built over the last century and touted as success formulae during the last two decades will undergo fundamental changes. Gary Hamel says that value creation will be taken to the next peak level through management innovation, rather than through product innovation. The challenge before management becomes one of innovating and reinventing itself. Such reinvention would call for fundamental changes, rather than fine-tuning of existing paradigms.
I am impressed by the clarity with which Professor Gary Hamel shows that management is on the verge of dramatic changes. Follow this link http://discussionleader.harvardbusiness.org/hamel/ for direct inputs from Gary Hamel, including podcasts in his own voice.
Recent lessons from the Wall Street would certainly make all management thinkers rethink their paradigms of high performance.The reality of the emerging world order is characterized by a lack of insulation. Nobody, no individual, organization or nation is insulated from the effects of changes in other parts of the system.
Twenty years ago, people in the countrysides of India or Brazil would not be discussing the showdown on Wall Street. But today many of them are talking about it. Not because they read about it in the newspaper, but because they feel the impact.
In the twentyfirst century organizations, models of excellence built over the last century and touted as success formulae during the last two decades will undergo fundamental changes. Gary Hamel says that value creation will be taken to the next peak level through management innovation, rather than through product innovation. The challenge before management becomes one of innovating and reinventing itself. Such reinvention would call for fundamental changes, rather than fine-tuning of existing paradigms.
I am impressed by the clarity with which Professor Gary Hamel shows that management is on the verge of dramatic changes. Follow this link http://discussionleader.harvardbusiness.org/hamel/ for direct inputs from Gary Hamel, including podcasts in his own voice.
Commitment is the key to high performance
Leading is commitment management. Higher level leadership functions like visioning, goal clarification and strategizing are important, but the key differentiating factor for effective leaders is their skill in commitment management. It is intangible, yet so palpable. Leaders succeeds to the degree that they are able to manage their own commitment, and the commitment of their followers.
Commitment is different from motivation. Motivation is desire. Commitment is decision. Therein lies the power of commitment. Commitment has the quality of being unequivocal (yes / no, will / won't), whereas intention is 'may be ... if...'
Compliance can be obtained by force. Commitment is obtained only from freedom of choice. It is voluntary and flows from the heart. It cannot be obtained by pep talks, or most of those managerial techniques for motivating. In fact, quite a lot of modern management practices hinder the free flow of human spirit, and kill commitment rather than nurture it.
My quest as a manager is to learn the art of managing commitment. (May be 'managing' is an inappropriate word in this context.) If I can get a handle on this, I know there are no limits to what is possible.
Commitment is different from motivation. Motivation is desire. Commitment is decision. Therein lies the power of commitment. Commitment has the quality of being unequivocal (yes / no, will / won't), whereas intention is 'may be ... if...'
Compliance can be obtained by force. Commitment is obtained only from freedom of choice. It is voluntary and flows from the heart. It cannot be obtained by pep talks, or most of those managerial techniques for motivating. In fact, quite a lot of modern management practices hinder the free flow of human spirit, and kill commitment rather than nurture it.
My quest as a manager is to learn the art of managing commitment. (May be 'managing' is an inappropriate word in this context.) If I can get a handle on this, I know there are no limits to what is possible.
About learning from feeback
From my notes on September 19, 2008:
Sometimes we get so much caught up with doing things, working hard and demanding hard work from others, but end up getting less than the desired results. There is no substitute for hard work. But that is only part of the jigsaw puzzle of high performance. We need to put all the pieces together to obtain high performance.
There are several pieces to the puzzle. Here I am focusing on the role of obtaining and giving timely feedback. Without a system of ongoing measurement and feedback, we end up doing more postmortems than life saving surgeries.
It is easy to talk about the role of feedback and correction, but difficult to practice it. But I believe getting a handle on this difficult thing is the key to success as managers and leaders.
One thing that I learned through feedback today is about the importance of fixing the duration of meetings and sticking to that.
In today's meeting I was emphasizing the importance of defining clearly measurable learning objectives. I was discussing the matter with a group of IT learning facilitators. I was very enthusiastic about making this work, that I ended up talking more than I should have. Immediately after the meeting was over, came the personal feedback that the meeting should have been closed earlier. Though I would have appreciated this feedback during the meeting itself, it was worth having even after the meeting was over.
So I am keeping a rule for myself to use the mobile phone to alert me about the end time for meetings that I call. I may snooze it once, just to summarize the point being discussed, but not carry it beyond that.
Sometimes we get so much caught up with doing things, working hard and demanding hard work from others, but end up getting less than the desired results. There is no substitute for hard work. But that is only part of the jigsaw puzzle of high performance. We need to put all the pieces together to obtain high performance.
There are several pieces to the puzzle. Here I am focusing on the role of obtaining and giving timely feedback. Without a system of ongoing measurement and feedback, we end up doing more postmortems than life saving surgeries.
It is easy to talk about the role of feedback and correction, but difficult to practice it. But I believe getting a handle on this difficult thing is the key to success as managers and leaders.
One thing that I learned through feedback today is about the importance of fixing the duration of meetings and sticking to that.
In today's meeting I was emphasizing the importance of defining clearly measurable learning objectives. I was discussing the matter with a group of IT learning facilitators. I was very enthusiastic about making this work, that I ended up talking more than I should have. Immediately after the meeting was over, came the personal feedback that the meeting should have been closed earlier. Though I would have appreciated this feedback during the meeting itself, it was worth having even after the meeting was over.
So I am keeping a rule for myself to use the mobile phone to alert me about the end time for meetings that I call. I may snooze it once, just to summarize the point being discussed, but not carry it beyond that.
Importance of feedback
When we consider performance improvement, we must consider two types of improvements -- improvement through conscious effort and improvement through unconscious development. The latter is more powerful and long lasting. But we do not have much control over that, except to discover and cooperate with the processes of the psyche.
We must focus our attention on the area where we have control -- improvement through conscious effort. This happens through practice. There are no shortcuts here.
If we engage in the wrong kind of practice, we get the wrong results. So hard work alone is not enough. We need to start with clarity of the desired outcome, set standards (or benchmarks or expectations), continuously measure and compare our performance against the standard and take corrective actions.
There is no performance improvement without performance measurement. There cannot be objective performance measurement without clear definition of performance criteria. There cannot be clear definition of performance criteria without clarity of results required. So we need to start with the results required and work to get the desired results through performance, all the time measuring and correcting our performance.
The system of human performance improvement at the conscious level is very much like a feedback control system. The principle of performance improvement through feedback control works in all situations where there is a conscious effort to improve performance -- students, teachers, athletes, sportspersons, musicians, singers, artists, writers, lawyers, managers, leaders, doctors, pastors, parents ....
Most of the time, poor results do not indicate a lack of efforts or commitment, but the absence of proper measurement and feedback system. Corrections in this area have a great impact on improving performance. The impact is greater than what can be obtained by all the other efforts at motivating employees or learners. Great performance itself would then become the biggest motivating force.
We must focus our attention on the area where we have control -- improvement through conscious effort. This happens through practice. There are no shortcuts here.
If we engage in the wrong kind of practice, we get the wrong results. So hard work alone is not enough. We need to start with clarity of the desired outcome, set standards (or benchmarks or expectations), continuously measure and compare our performance against the standard and take corrective actions.
There is no performance improvement without performance measurement. There cannot be objective performance measurement without clear definition of performance criteria. There cannot be clear definition of performance criteria without clarity of results required. So we need to start with the results required and work to get the desired results through performance, all the time measuring and correcting our performance.
The system of human performance improvement at the conscious level is very much like a feedback control system. The principle of performance improvement through feedback control works in all situations where there is a conscious effort to improve performance -- students, teachers, athletes, sportspersons, musicians, singers, artists, writers, lawyers, managers, leaders, doctors, pastors, parents ....
Most of the time, poor results do not indicate a lack of efforts or commitment, but the absence of proper measurement and feedback system. Corrections in this area have a great impact on improving performance. The impact is greater than what can be obtained by all the other efforts at motivating employees or learners. Great performance itself would then become the biggest motivating force.
Purpose of this Blog
To document and share my reflections on management and leadership.
What I note here are observations and reflections on my journey as a business manager. I hope to let my thoughts flow unhindered, uncensored and without embellishment.
What I note here are observations and reflections on my journey as a business manager. I hope to let my thoughts flow unhindered, uncensored and without embellishment.
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