10x Your Performance - The Gap Miners Pvt Ltd Story

In a session three weeks ago Siddharth asked me if I could tell the team at Gap Miners something motivating. He was unhappy with the slow sales. I could sense his dejection. I also felt at the same time as I always do - that real motivation comes from providing some clarity, a feeling that one can do it. So we decided to dive headlong into the problem. Maybe it was time for a 10x solution.

The 10x Way
It primarily works like this. Reorganise existing resources and aim at 10x of a key performance indicator. Without additional resources, we should be able to 10x our performances

Process

• Decide - to achieve the 10x goal. Take it personally. Set your own goal 10x or more. Take full ownership.
• ·         Have clear goal - (number, position, status etc) and fix it. Keep a time frame in mind.
• ·         Don't accept any other outcome – achieve your goal exactly as you decided, nothing less.
• ·         Use only available resources 
•       To find a 10x solution, bring 100% focus of your thoughts. The goal should be all consuming and the number 1 priority. 
• Planning –  Assume the goal is achieved. Then walking backwards from the goal, check out every possibility that can obstruct the goal and make the process error-free. Plan until all possibilities have been covered (including contingencies for things beyond your control).
•         There are no excuses, blame. You are 100% responsible.
•         Implement – Follow your plan with great concentration and meticulous judgment, hold on to your plan through the tough phases. Execute diligently. Brick by brick
•       Believe – Hold on to the belief that you will make it through the difficulty and trouble, and keep progressing.
• ·         Achieve. Feel good within.
• Reset goal and aim for next 10x. 

First Session

In that first session we looked at the problem. The team was not getting enough offers (their site www.upto75.com is a deal site offering the best deals across 10 cities in India). The target was a hefty 160 offers a month. The actuals were 30 offers a month.
Red flag; When people see a big difference between the actuals and the targets it is bad for their self confidence. So we decided to set a target that they could achieve. The idea was to get everyone to commit a number and achieve it to improve confidence.
We asked everyone to commit their numbers for the week. Any number that they can confidently achieve. The total came to 15 offers for the week. We wrote down each one's commitment on the board.

The only condition was that the numbers were non-negotiable. All back up plans must be in place. The team had to deliver 15.

Week 1 - 10/15
To achieve target the team decided  to meet twice - once every morning before work and once after work. A 10 minute meeting to discuss status, plans and progress. A whats app group was created to update the rest of us about the progress. I sat through one meeting asking relevant questions (which offer, what backup etc). Every day after the meeting the convenor was to send a message - Meeting done. Status 5/15 or Committed 5 and Achieved 4 or something like that.

The team was asked to share inputs, ask tough questions and also encourage one another. The week ended at 10/15 which was an improvement over the past week at 8. We celebrated the effort and made a new commitment for next week.
The group energy was much higher. They liked the daily interactions and increased focus. They seemed more positive.
The next week's target was set by them at 25.

Week 2 - 21/25
This week we added a couple of improvisations. We first introduced a 'Star of the Week' concept. We also decided to celebrate each weekend. We looked at improving process - we asked the team to analyse the number of calls made by each one during the week. Calls were split into A (MoU awaited, B (proposal sent) and C (new calls). Clearly the more "A"s someone has, the more likelihood of converting them into offers. More Cs indicates low probability. They were asked to keep their list of 120 calls per week ready by Monday morning and the 20 calls a day ready every morning meet. The "A"s were highlighted. They were asked to commit a daily achievement and report status, end of day.

The whatsapp group started buzzing. It was good to see people reporting new offers.

This week ended on a high. Against the committed 25 we managed to do 21.

More importantly the graph showed a healthy trend, in one week we achieved 75% of what we had achieved last month, a 100% improvement over last week and most achieved their targets.

The team was charged enough to stay back on Saturday evening. we reviewed the numbers and clapped for the achievers - Sravani and Pavan. Venkat gave them a bonus of one leave for their performance. They were very happy.

Week 3 - 23/21
Week 3 was a challenge because we had only 4 working days with a holiday right in the middle. The team met and decided not to reduce the number they had achieved last week already. So the target was fixed at 21. Commitments were taken from all concerned. This time they were clearer and surer because they had a list of 80 calls to be made that week, the list of A.B,C and the names of possible offers.
Day 1 ended with 5/21, day 2 with 13/21, then the holiday came. The team was  confident that they would achieve 100% this time. The whatsapp group was buzzing. We now had an Enthusiasm Team in place - Akshay and Pavan. We decided to celebrate each offer.
Day 4 ended with 18/21. Day 5, the last day was a nail biting finish as we first achieved 21, then 23. We overshot our commitment, everyone had achieved their numbers, with less number of days we achieved what we did last week in 6. The group was ecstatic.

We met in the evening, Akshay was still at work finishing his quota. A round of burgers and soft drinks and we clapped for the performers. Siddharth and Sharmila starred for the week (with 4 apiece), Siddharth - star of the month (13) and Siddharth - star of the quarter (29).

A quick look at the quarter (109) - January (45), February (30) and March (64). In the past three weeks we had clocked 54 offers. There were smiles all around, a renewed confidence showed in their talk, their smiles. More importantly they were more assured and not insecure. Now they had all achieved their targets and we clapped for everyone of them.

For the coming week we decided to analyse the number of calls. We decided to identify 10 As (most had only 2-3) by Monday and develop the pipeline. The more As the better the conversion rate. By next week the team was to identify 5 As and the week after, 10As in every list. By third wek hopefully 15 "A"s.

Highlights

• Growth over last month was 113%. We have more than doubled this month.
• The 3 week performance was highest - even higher than a whole month (January) - 54 (3 weeks)/45 (Jan), 30 (Feb)
• We had more control over the process
• Team bonding, confidence and communication has improved which automatically improved their commitment
• Reward and recognition system was falling into place, we were recognising every achievement and progress

The next week is the beginning of a new month. The team has set a target of 25. We promised to get the 120 calls list ready, identify "A"s to be cultivated during the week (10 with a minimum of 5 for the next week). We will also complete calls analysis and get a better hang of it.

All salespeople were asked to think like CEOs of their space. We promised ourselves that if we touch 160 in 3 months, we will gift ourselves an outbound program.

Now to add further developments as the process unfolds. But the exercise till now has been quite encouraging and showing good results. Wait by for updates.

Week 4 ended April 8 (15/25)
As expected the team kind of took the foot off the pedal this week and I was wary of that. It happens sometimes in the confusion of achieving goals. You don't know how to deal with success. So the prescribed meetings did not take place, the tasks of identifying As did not happen and people were on leave or on work-from-home mode. As a result, the Tuesday meeting had to be cancelled due to low attendance and even the Wednesday meeting that was supposed to start at 930 started at 1030 with half the attendance. Talk of resisting your own good!

We had a meeting and I shared the 6 monthly analysis of calls and offers made by the team. Venkat and I had done this analysis on Tuesday evening. In six months it appeared that 18000 calls were made and 215 offers received - a conversion ratio of 1.18. We analysed everyone's offer/call conversion ratio and found that it varied from 0.64 to 3.38. In the last three weeks since we began the activity it was up to 1.78 as a group and individuals had doubled and tripled their averages. Clearly something was working.

This week we added this insight - by increasing the number of As in the pipeline (currently about 15 As/960 prospects to 90/960) we could increase the number of offers from the current 3-4 a week to 10-20 a week per individual.

• To identify 10 As for the week
• To have 5 As on their list by Saturday, 10 by next Saturday and 15 by the third week
• By this weekend we would have close to 40-45 As across all sales people which is up from 10 As (a healthy pipeline of clients who are interested in offers and have received our MoUs so we can upload the offers on the site) 

The team was cautioned about the dangers of complacency, about the dream of winning and what was required. Firstly to follow set routines, come with 10x ideas and implement fast. We decided to achieve the target come what may. As on date, with two more days to go the team has committed 13 by end of day of the target of 25 and to do 10 As out of 45.

The actuals for the week looked like this - 15 offers, from 413 (out of a possible total of 840 calls), 13 As (at MoU level), 123 Bs (at offer level) and 704 Cs (new calls).

Highlights:

• To recap - bring enthusiasm., enjoy work and achieve
• Commit numbers, have frequent meetings and update all details every morning and evening so everyone knows what they committed 
• Make lists of weekly 120 calls, identify potential A, B and C
• Get 15 As, 45 Bs and 60 Cs in final distribution

Next week's target is to achieve 25 offers, get 5As by Wednesday and 10 As by Saturday. We will start analysing calls to offers, offers conversion ratios, As to conversion ratios and other key parameters.

Insight" Even in a bad week with three top performers clocking zero sales, the team achieved 15 offers. Pavan is constantly achieving and over-achieving his numbers.

Week 5 ended April 15 (15/25)
The magic number of 25 was aspired for but we fell short by 10. However as a week one week performance indicator we are still way ahead from the 9.6 offers per week performance for January and February and up at 15.

Highlights

• Calls came down drastically which indicates improved efficiency (calls:offer ratio). As against a call average of 676 calls a week over a five month period which was generating 8-10 offers per week (9.6 offers a week), we managed to reach 15 offers a week with only 378 calls last week. Conversion ratio 3.97% (up from 1.42% for six month average) 
• Conversion rate (offers per call) per week went up from 0.98% over the last 20 weeks (5 months) to 3.62% in the past 5 weeks - an increase of 267%)) 
• The number of As (offers at MoU stage) have increased from 13 to 23 (increase of 76%)
• However the two week target of everyone getting 5 As by last weekend and 10 As by this weekend was not achieved. We are at 3 As per head. The team said that it was not a skill issue but a will issue. They promised to increase their effort and achieve 10 As by next week.
• The 5 week period (week ending March 18 to week ending April 15) generated 88 offers (averaging 17.6, 88/5) as against the 5 month period which has generated 172 offers over 23 weeks (averaging 7.47 offers a week, 162/23) indicating an increase of more than double (235%)

Next week targets

• Our monthly target of 90 for April is under threat with only 30 so far. The team however felt that they will share the burden and try and do 10 offers a piece in the next two weeks.
• The team also decided to look at their list of expired offers and renew the good ones and close out the useless ones. This would add to the offers tally. This would also be in addition to the new offers.
• The idea of improving As to 10 per head, or at least 5 per head was still being pursued. It is hypothesised that with about 50-70 As, our number of offers would increase drastically.

Team is gung ho though a bit nervous. Now to see what happens this coming week.  My suspicion is that if we get 50-60 As in the pipeline, then focus on renewing expired offers and not letting existing offers expire, our performance should improve.

Some Asides - Top Management's Alignment
The importance of the top management and its alignment to the cause is paramount.Too often top management is unhappy, resentful and even sees the team as an enemy. It is time to let go of those feelings and start working at it - together. It may require letting go of the past, of some ego.

One of the major keys is to keep the team excited. The best way to keep them excited is for them to see success and to recognise it. We gave them targets (set by themselves), got them to devise a system where their performances were under the scanner in a gentle, non-accusing manner and where each one pushed each one along. The results doubled.

The idea is to appreciate progress until they feel confident enough and are motivated enough by their own good work that they take more ownership and pride in their work. But its critical to nurture them until they feel confident and take pride.

One danger is if the top management gets impatient or feels that the team has not performed till now and is now taking ownership. "It's their job", "they were told and never did it till now" - could become ego issues. It's important to have everyone, especially the managers to be gentle with the process, to lead the effort towards achieving what they want the team to achieve. This would mean finding out their issues, guiding them when they are stuck, taking responsibility for their performance ("they were told but they did not do the work" - reflects on the manager) and gently nudging them to perform. Managers must find a way to make them perform.

Managers at the top must have a clear analysis of what is going on, know what they want, nudge the team in that direction, show them success and recognise it. Their job is to make the team perform - not find excuses as to why the team is not performing. Many times top managers blame one another, the team and behave as if the entire team is against them and of bad quality. We can never move forward with beliefs like that. Every person, handled in the right way will surprise us. The key is to know how.

As an aside we are having a meeting to align the top management on these principles.
1) Our job is to make the team perform
2) The team will perform well if they are high on energy and in good space.
3) We must believe that they are capable of great work and enable that.
4) People will do work when they suggest the way forward themselves - give them credit and let them take it forward
5) Appreciate progress, and do not compare current performance with your gold standard of performance (for eg. if their average is 10 and your standard is 50, and if they have done 12, please appreciate progress and don't look at the 38 that is lacking. From 12 they will be motivated to go to 14, then 16, 20, 30 etc if they are appreciated.)
6) Be easy on process (let them find a way), strict on effort and integrity
7) Facilitate performance, make it easy to perform, don't come in the way, find metrics, ways, processes, to keep them happy and excited.

Week 6 - ending April 22, 2016 (19/25)
We finished the week at 19/25 which was an improvement over the past two weeks though it fell short of the planned target. There is some irregular attendance due to leaves which is hampering the effort, and also the key people being busy with things like marriage (their own!). But over all we ended with 19 making it 49 for the month, with 20 As (as opposed to the target of 40 which is still  a far cry). This A business is mysterious and needs to be pursued with more rigor this week.

Two other ideas that we are pursuing need a push. One is the identification of 10 big accounts and their management for increasing revenue. For the first time revenue comes into the picture and will form part of the evaluation process. As a complementary plan to that we are also looking at a city based potential improvement plan which the executives are to come up with.

I am hoping to get this exercise going for another 6 weeks by which time we would have set the new processes into place and would have something substantial to show. Meanwhile we are still at 2.5 X which is not a bad place to be in after 6 weeks. The last three have been rather slow but we hope to pick up.

Targets for the coming week
1) 25 offers (or more, considering the shortfall we have had)
2) Improve As to 40 and beyond
3) Complete all pending renewals by weekend
4) Examine revenue and compare with the city-potential plan with 10 big accounts
5) Examine the feedback analysis from customers to see a pattern

The team has slacked off a bit and the pending jobs are increasing. It will require a pepping up and some close monitoring this week to get on track. In my view this will be a critical week.

Amar's Pensieve - A Dedicated Training Facilitation Venue

I first met Amar Chegu who is Amar to me, Organisational Development (OD) expert, Management Consultant, Thinker, Philosopher, Ideator and Facilitator among other parts, in the later part of 2007. He called me over the phone and asked me if I could help with the content on his website. He was a flourishing management consultant and the President of the Hyderabad Management Association then. Now, anyone who speaks to Amar cannot go away without being impressed by the presence and attention he brings to the moment, along with a highly charming, articulate and intelligent persona. It helps also that he has a constant sparkle in his eye, a ready smile and a welcoming and approachable nature. I was pretty impressed by his demeanour on the telephone itself, and said I would certainly like to look at the content he wanted me to develop for his website.

Amar outside his office in his new venture - 'Amar's Pensieve'

Out First Interactions
I met him at his home-office. Amar looks, sounds and is, the consummate professional .When I looked at his website content, I realised that it was far better than anything I could conceive or create. It was clear, sharp, transparent and well thought out. It brought out all facets of the person and his work - including his interests in reading, writing, work. I confessed as much and told him that I could not better what he already had. He appreciated the fact that I was plain enough to tell him so.

Amar ensconced in 'The Enterprise'

When he heard that my first book had just been published he bought (Amar had this wonderful quality all through - he always bought every single book of mine) 'The Men Within' and gave me fine feedback. As he was an established professional in the Organisational Development area, it mattered to me that he could see the management facet to the rather simplistic story of a cricket team trying to win an improbable tournament.

An aerial view of 'Amar's Pensieve'

Since then, Amar, I am happy and proud to say, is the single largest buyer of 'The Men Within', buying dozens and dozens of the book and gifting it to his friends and associates in that very giving nature of his. He likes something, he shares is whole heartedly. My estimate is that he must have bought over 300 copies over the years. I think I signed every single one of them because he is also thoughtful enough to get the copies signed for the person intended. It gave me much needed solace and happiness to see this management aspect of the book being appreciated in such an actionable way by a practitioner. People can praise you to the skies but when they buy your book, it shows their appreciation. This is the kind of an appreciation that a writer craves for.

A view of the Obstacle Route

The Public Speaking Route
That he was the single largest buyer of that book in itself would have been good enough for me to be grateful to Amar. But Amar did more. He is also the sole reason why I got into two allied revenue streams that I never dreamt of. Amar invited me one fine day in his capacity as the President of the Hyderabad Management Association. He said 'Hari, we would like you to give a talk on 'Leadership and Team Building through Cricket' at the HMA. The audience would include practicing professionals and academics and students. The venue - British Library.'

The central lawn and the offices around it

Public speaking?? No way!!

I tried every trick I knew to get out of that talk. The few public speeches I had given till then were the ones I had given at book launches of 'The Men Within' - stressful, sweat drenched fifteen minute efforts to a small and encouraging group of friends and family. But to stand up like an authority and speak of such subjects before a knowledgeable audience was a formidable task. But he would not take a no. Trapped, I prepared, as I advocated in the book. I wrote and rewrote my draft for some 10-15 times. I stood before the mirror and read it aloud until I knew which line was coming when - maybe 10-15 times again. The speech was to be a two hour affair. It went on for 3 hours and pretty well too. Thus was born a speaker, thanks to Amar. Ever since, I have given over 100 speeches perhaps including one at a TEDx event recently - which reminded  me of the HMA speech all over again. Amar, was pretty much the reason for me to get into the speaking circuit and for adding the 'motivational speaker' tag to my resume.

Solutions Camp - Conference Room that Houses 100

The Management Consulting and Organisational Development Route
Another career stream also came to me thanks to Amar - my first formal OD consulting assignment. The Centre for Organisational Development, then led by our good friend Dr. Madhavi was looking to establish a winning culture. Amar suggested my name and the unconventional route taken by the team in 'The Men Within'. I had done a couple of workshops based on 'The Men Within', mainly to cricketers, but this was new. With Amar's support and encouragement, I brought the same workshop to the corporate area and I think did a fairly decent job for a novice. Of course, now I can see so many things that could have been done differently but then I only knew so much. From then on, Amar and I teamed up to conduct workshops and programs fairly regularly for several corporate teams based on the cricketing analogy of 'The Men Within' and its principles. We must have done some 25-30 together, if not more, to some prestigious names. To his credit, Amar, who is not too fond of cricket, did not hold it against the game, and chose to only look at how it would help the client. So the tag of workshop facilitator and management consultant that I carry, are also owed to Amar and his belief in my ideas. He believes in the creation of great champion teams and individuals just as I do.

Amar and his prized collection of books

My ideas, I must admit, are raw and not mapped on to any scientific theory - most of them come from my experience and understanding. Amar comes from a place of learning and exposure to scientific ideas and theories so in a way it kind of matched.

Amar's Pensieve - A Place for Organised Thought and Learning
Our friendship and association continued - and as professionals do we also drifted into different areas and streams. We did work together when the need arose. We still catch up over phone or a meal and discuss our ideas. So when the other day Amar told me that his dream of creating a space  for training and learning activities (which he had been sharing with me all along) had come true, I was thrilled and happy for him. He took me to his venture - aptly called 'Amar's Pensieve' - a name that introduces you to the man. It makes you think and ask. And the process of learning begins right there.

The Meaning of Pensieve - The Learning Begins
To quote Amar - ‘Pen-sieve’ is a magical vessel, referred to by J. K. Rowling in her ‘Harry Potter’ books. Thoughts can be placed in the ‘pen-sieve’ for looking at them dispassionately and taking decisions. The training centre: Amar’s Pensieve™, through its activity based emphasis seeks to be the pen-sieve for its visitors." The logo similarly has green grass and sunflowers and depicts "an eco-system which nurtures the evolution of meaningful thought and action".

The Enterprise

Dedicated Venue for Training and Learning
"Amar’s Pensieve" is a dedicated venue for facilitation and training though it has great potential as a lovely weekend getaway too, for the adventurous. It is located around 30 Kms (35- 40 min) from Gachibowli Circle -  # 6-46, Mothukupally Village, Moinabad Mandal, Ranga Reddy District - 501504, The place is spread over 3 acres in a lovely rural setting, not far from the Pragathi resorts. Amar envisaged it as a "secure activity-friendly Training Centre, a dedicated eco-system for trainers and trainees to engage in results-driven ‘learning-development-training-coaching-evolution’ activities and interventions, for competency development and organizational transformation". As you can see - I still don't touch much of Amar's copy - he does it so well.

Indoor and Outdoor Activity
Designed in such a fashion that it facilitates indoor, open-air and out-door activity - the focus being on activity. An impressive military style obstacle course stares you in the face and challenges you to your limits. Open-farm surroundings ensconce 20,000 square feet of training space. The training area consists of four buildings, grouped around a tennis court sized lawn (which can be used to play a short version of cricket for experientially learning team dynamics and leadership), providing a setting that is at once self-sufficient and convenient, for out-door, open-air and in-door training.

Amar and Me in the Pensieve

Enterprise, Solutions Camp etc
‘Enterprise’ - is the name of the administrative building which consists of work space, library and conference room. The Conference room can be used to hold meetings or training for up to 10 people. 'Solutions Camp’ is the closed-door training room that can seat 90-100 people in theatre style. It seats up to 60 people, in work-groups, around tables. All facilities like Wifi, LCD projectors, chairs, tables, boards, screens etc are available. A walk around the place, down the bucolic road, a shuffle through the obstacle course, a knock with a cricket bat and ball can all stimulate the creative juices.

Enroute to Amar's Pensieve

One can hire the Training Facility. The friendly and affable staff at 'Amar's Pensieve' will help with Transport and Food arrangements The training facility may be hired on a day or overnight (tent stay) basis by prior agreement. Transport through taxi or bus may be arranged as required. Set meals are provided as per requirement too.

For more information do visit www.amarspensieve.in/www.betterenterprise.in or contact Amar Chegu at +91-9848007151 amar@betterenterprise.

As always, I wish Amar great success in making his dreams come true and hope to conduct a few programs there myself. Amar's own set of programs are filled with activities, fun and focused learning. Amar's Pensieve really is a place where our thoughts get organised. Well done Amar and wishing you great joy, happiness and success

Talk On 'Effective Employee Engagement' - NHRD Hyderabad, HR Interact on May 14, 2015

I was invited by the NHRD's Hyderabad Chapter to speak about 'Effective Employee Engagement' using a generalists perspective in their HR Interact series of talks. The session was conducted at the EThames Graduate School, Punjagutta. Mr. Dinavahi was there on dot to receive me and we had a good crowd of about 40 consisting of senior practitioners, managers, entrepreneurs and students. Given below is the general flow of the speech.


"As I understand it - employee engagement is about how deeply we can engage the employee at work. We all do this at various levels - good and bad, low and high. Let's concern ourselves with practices and principles that give good results (because fully engaged employees will produce good results). 

A memento - Thanks NHRD (Pic. Vijay Vedantam)

To get the best out of their employees is the concern of every manager and leader. How do we do that? How do we engage employees? Or rather, how do we engage people? 

Let me tell you a story.

Engagement - It's about challenge

There is a cricket net at Shamshabad airport. The bowling machine bowls 20 balls and we pay 100 bucks or so and knock the ball around. A friend of mine paid up and asked me to play. I played, in a most disengaged fashion I must admit.  I got beaten, mistimed the ball and even got out a couple of times. When I left the net I felt very disappointed with my own performance. Why did I not play to my potential, I wondered. What would have made me play better? To my potential? 

That was when I realised that if the bowling machine guy had thrown me a challenge – say if I did not miss a single ball of those 20 balls I get 5 balls extra as a reward – I would have risen to the task. I would have been fully engaged. This is what happens for most people who are not self-motivated. The environment must think of ways to challenge and engage the customer (or employee).

(In cases where the environment cannot challenge me, I need to find ways to motivate myself. Which comes down to the same thing - I will find a new challenge and reward for myself to push myself to newer intensities.)

The lesson - to engage anyone fully we must challenge them. The managers job is to challenge the employees constantly - which requires the manager to be a creative person himself. For individuals it comes down to challenging themselves each time.

It's simple and mischievous

Another cricketing story. Ramakant Achrekar, Sachin Tendulkar’s coach apparently had a great way of motivating his young wards. Normally young cricketers go to nets without too much engagement – it’s after all practice and not the real thing. So Achrekar came up with a brilliant idea. He’d put a coin on the top of the stumps and challenge the batsman and the bowler to earn it. If the batsman plays without getting out during his time, he gets the coin. If bowlers get the batsman out they get the coin. Everyone is fully engaged. The lesson here is that engaging your employees or team mates requires such simple tricks that get them all to focus on the challenge. It requires the manager to be ingenious, creative and fun. There are no big lectures. There is a prize to be won and you can earn it if you are good enough. The players feel a sense of achievement from the first ball and may even start thinking how to make things happen (about the process) thereby improving their skill. 

It’s the kind of thinking that one can see in healthy growth-oriented cultures.

Years ago when I wrote my first book ‘The Men Within’ the crux of the matter was the same for me. How do I get a team of young cricketers who have no belief in themselves to perform way above their weight. The answer I stumbled upon was this – transfer a sense of ownership to the boys. How does the coach transfer his pain, his vision, his desire to the boys? It’s a difficult job but it can be done if one has the right intent and talent.

Employee engagement is getting the employee engaged in a way that he feels as if he owns the work and runs with it. That is the ideal employee really – someone who can behave with the urgency, drive and passion of the owner himself at getting the work done. In reality, most employees are not blessed with that kind of self motivation – so it does become the job of the manager to bring them to that point.

Holding forth (Pic. Vijay Vedantam)

Employee Engagement - The Manager's Viewpoint

Let’s look at employee engagement from the point of view of the managers and then from that of the employees.

Let me first categorise employees into two types. Those blessed with the ability to be self motivated. These are few - perhaps 10%. They are about pride. They know they are good and back themselves. 

Then comes the other 90%. These need to be mentored until they come to the level of believing in themselves, of taking pride in themselves and their work. These are the ones that need to be invested in. They must be made to feel secure. They must be treated like the whales in Ken Blanchard’s 'Whale Done' (or like most of us really). They must be appreciated for the small progresses they make and corrected when veering off course. They must be handled with kid’s gloves until they start walking.

The 90% - Need Belief in Themselves and Pride in Their Work

In my experience, most managers make the mistake of treating both categories alike. The people in the first category must be made to feel that the managers they are dealing with are interested in them and their growth. That they will be taken care of. To make them feel secure, managers could be patient with them, appreciate the progress they are making, accentuate the positive, ignore the negative and redirect energy (all whale done processes or kid-handling processes). Understand that its all about energy – what you pay attention to grows. In a while these employees feel confident enough to take some pride in their work and start believing in themselves.

The 10% - Challenge and Ownership

At this stage, when the employees or wards start showing signs of belief in themselves and pride in their work, managers can gently shift gears and challenge them a bit more. Now that the employees can walk they should be allowed to take more and more responsibility. Managers can now widen the range and empower them. While doing this one should be careful not to suppress their natural flair and allow them to express themselves naturally. Understand that each employee is different and invest time with them. There is no one rule fits all (except the grand rule that one must love ones wards like ones own children). Set high standards and make them earn it. You can transfer ownership by showing them their potential and where they can go with what they have and facilitate their growth after that.

Sharing future plans, giving clear roles, providing support and mostly giving constant feedback are important. When employees feel trusted, when they know they are taken care of, they will give their best.

Ian Chappell on How to get the best from players

Here it's relevant to recall what Ian Chappell once said about getting the best out of people. To get the best out of his team members he said the captain must make the cricket interesting. In my view, to make the cricket interesting the captain must be interesting too. He must be passionate about his goals, about his wards growth, about the work itself and that itself can throw up many interesting possibilities.

With Mr. Chandra Sekhar, ITC, former Divisional Head, ITC, Guntur

My Leadership Model - How Leaders Evolve 

Insecure, Personal Leadership and Secure Leadership

When we look at managers we find that most cannot trust their employees because they are insecure people themselves. Trust issues are all about how much we trust ourselves - they are never about the others. 

Insecure leaders - All power and no responsibility (ownership)

My model for leaders is this. First come the insecure leaders who are given power without any responsibility. The have no understanding or confidence of executing their own role, are insecure and therefore try to merely survive (and not let anyone find out about their insecurities). They push down the smart ones, promote insecure ones and develop a system of mediocrity because of their innate insecurity. In such teams failure is a matter of time. Such leaders will certainly not grow leaders. Mostly because leaders are about ownership and they cannot transfer ownership because they do not take ownership for their role themselves.

Personal leaders - No power and all responsibility (ownership)

However the same leaders who have failed enough may start thinking at one stage of their own contribution, their role. Here they become personal leaders if they start thinking of the possibilities they can bring to the fore if they can somehow expand their role within its definition. For eg. a tea boy who serves with smile and panache, a chauffeur who makes the ride more enjoyable, a receptionist who takes her job seriously - its all about going beyond the call of the duty. Beyond the words and into the spirit of things. This is when magic happens. This is when the real power of ownership is unleashed. This is the first time when the real "I" is awakened. What can "I" really do? What can "I" contribute really? Two small examples. One of the tea boy in the bank where I worked - he'd come at 4 pm and serve tea as if its the best tea in the world and he'd label it Makwana's tea and come on like a breath of fresh air. Another of a lady scooterist in Pune who instead of cribbing about all the people who are breaking the law took it upon herself to stop a young man going on the wrong side on his bike and finally made him turn back and go into the right lane! Both cases of personal leadership. Of what people can do if they take ownership (and not merely talk about it). They will start making a difference. Now the hallmark of these people is that even without power they take up great responsibility. They go beyond the words because it is after all about who you really are. They do much more than what is required of them. They take ownership for their role. Like I said before, this is where the magic begins so its time we all asked ourselves the question - what can I do to change this situation? How can i contribute?

Secure leaders - Power used well to transfer power and ownership

The third lot of leaders is what we must grow. This is the lot of secure leaders. These are people who do not shirk away from empowering their wards with power and responsibility. They grow them beyond themselves. They can do so because they are secure. To be secure is only this - they say they know what they now and say they do not know what they do not. Many times they may even feign ignorance just to see what their wards can come up with. By merely showing this vulnerability they encourage and challenge their wards to step in and do their best for them. It is a natural human reaction to step up to help  someone who is seeking help (we all feel good when we do that don't we?). The secure managers transfer ownership and credit because it grows these wards of theirs. Its about letting the wards run with their ideas and grow the endeavour collaboratively while keeping a supportive net under them when they fail. There's this wonderful speech of Dr. Abdul Kalam who speaks of his boss at ISRO who gave all responsibility on a project to Dr. Kalam - when it failed the first time the  boss took all the blame and when it succeeded the second time, he let Dr. Kalam take all the credit. 

When managers have problems with their teams and their levels of engagement the first place they must look at is themselves. They say teams only reflect the leader so it is time for the leader to look at himself or herself before giving up on the team.

Employee Engagement - The Employee's Viewpoint

When we try to understand employee engagement from the employee perspective all we need to do is ask ourselves is this question. What do we want in an ideal boss? One who gives freedom to express and execute, one who trusts and supports, who is interested in our growth and helps us grow, one who makes us feel secure, one who makes us feel useful and like we are contributing, one who throws up challenges for our growth. We don’t mind the boss's admonishments when we deserve then because they are needed to keep us on course. That’s all one needs to bear in mind as a manager to keep their employees engaged. 

One must bear in mind that all people are not blessed with the same experience, maturity or knowledge. But we must believe that they are all possessing the desire to excel, to be recognised for the good work they are capable of. Here, is they need a bit of help and support, it becomes the manager's job to facilitate it (not talk about it) so employees enjoy the work and get engaged. Who benefits by this work? As a manager your job gets lesser and lesser because employees are taking more and more ownership and becoming more productive which indicate show well you are doing at your job (by becoming irrelevant after some time). As an employee you get more growth and challenge by taking more ownership and utilising all the opportunities you are getting.

Its all about people really

Finally despite all these words and talks about systems, corporate, hierarchies, employee engagement etc it is all about people. As we all know people leave their managers and not their jobs so it is up to the managers to make their jobs interesting, to find their own growth and purpose before they can grow others. It can all start now by accepting that we would like to be part of the change. That we as managers have the power to facilitate that change. For that the first point is that the leader must change to produce results.

The Pareto Principle - 80/20 Principle of the Trivial Many and Vital Few

This vital principle is named after Vilfredo Pareto and Italian economist who in 1906 published his findings that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people.

Based on this principle, a quality management expert Joseph M. Juran conducted more studies and specifically pinned down the findings as the 80/20 principle i.e. the trivial many and the vital few.

 The principle is simple - 20% of whatever you are working at is responsible for 80% of your results.

To apply this rule we must know what our 100% is.
1)  Write down all the tasks (100%) you do.
2) Categorise them into the 80 (trivial many) and 20 (vital few) based on their importance / desired result for you.
3) Focus 80% of your time on the vital few or the vital 20% and work on them on absolute priority basis
4) The vital 20% will bring in 80% results for you.

It will need a bit of analysis but once you have zeroed down, you can fine tune your activity better.

Do the right things first, leave out the trivial ones, and get great results. Try it!

For more info read this article
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2014/01/20/pareto-principle-how-to-use-it-to-dramatically-grow-your-business/

Workshop on Leadership - Ace Designs

We did the first part of a four session program on leadership development for a group of Project Leads and Managers at ACE.

How important is leadership?
We tried to understand how important leadership was. Everyone agreed that it can make a 40-50% difference to a team performance.

The 3 stages of leadership.
1) Leadership by position - no process, insecure leader. Most become leaders like this without training and experience and have a negative effect on teams. They are either senior or better performing, but that does not make them a good leader.
They may make the team perform on par or in most cases, lose good members of the team and end up in the negative.

2) Leadership through some process - training, some idea of how to lead, a more secure position. This can be brought in by a basic understanding of what the leader should know, what the leader is expected to do and how.
By some training and understanding of the leadership process, these people can become more secure and perform better. There will be a small improvement in performance.

3) Inspirational leadership where the leader is secure and evolved. These type of leaders come with clarity and understanding and a genuine need to help people grow. Their team performs beyond expectations.

We decided that we would like to move from stage 1 to stage 2 and then try and understand stage 3 as well.

 Understanding the purpose
Once again we tried to understand the purpose of why we were there. Apart from the other answers, we zeroed down to the most basic one which was relevant to them as leaders.
 - They were all there in that position because the company thought them best fit to promote its goals and missions with their abilities and skills

1st responsibility
How do I best help the company achieve its goal?
This question brings three answers
- Giving my best as Project Leader
- Getting the team to give its best as a team
- Getting the team to give its best as individuals

Why Should I Do That?
This is where normally all companies get stuck. The all important WIFIM - or - What's In It For Me?

The concept that your individual growth is far more when the team grows was explained to them. The gains you get as an individual versus the gains you can get individually as the member of a successful team are very different. Examples of how ordinary employees in companies that grew large - Infosys, Lowe Lintas, IDBI, my own cricketing experience and rewards of winning the Ranji Trophy - were shared.

It was agreed that it is best that the team wins because it helps the individual grow much faster and much higher. It is therefore in everyone's individual interest as well that they be part of a successful team.

The Concept of Giving
We dwelt a bit on the concept of taking the higher risk. Of giving first. We looked at what 'giving' our best first without looking at the return can do - better performances, more learning, better decision making, taking more responsibility, increased confidence, better utilization of knowledge and skills. The concept of giving as a creative thought, as the thought of a leader was explained.
Leadership was about giving, about growing the team. It is about going beyond the normal give and take which stops teams and individuals at a petty level.

We understood how 'giving' grows both individual and the team and how focus on 'taking' limits and restricts the individual and the team. It is in their own interest that they learn to 'give' their best and grow.

The qualities of the Ideal Leader - As They Would Like Him To Be
Professional
Know the job
Man management
Decision maker
Clarity of thought
Good communicator
Planner
Tactically and strategically strong

Other qualities
Lead from the front
Deliver performances
Support and back team
Be action oriented
Fair
Honest
Just
Give confidence
Trust
Believe
Transparent/ No double standards
Be open to suggestions
Be patient
Good teacher
Have team's and individual's interests at heart
Listener
Accessible
Responsible
Strict on work ethic
Creates a vibrant, interesting and challenging atmosphere

Once the list was made, I asked them to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10 and see where they stand. One of them suggested feedback from their teams and I told them that if they felt confident enough to do that now, they could. All in all we saw the ideal manager and saw where we rank against him.
Now to find areas to prioritise and improve in the next session.





 

The Orientation Of New Employees - Gap Miners

It is always a challenge to orient new employees. I tried other methods before but this time I had the luxury of time so I decided to adopt a different route.

1) I asked the employees to list all the reasons 'why they were there'?
or "Why are you here?"

The idea was to understand the purpose.

2) Then I asked them what they 'brought to the company"?
or "What do you bring with you?"

The idea was to know what they thought they came with.

3) Then we looked at "what they will take from the company?"
or "What will you take from your work here?"

"Why are you here?" brought these answers.
1) To earn
2) To learn
3) To express ourselves
4) To grow
5) To meet new people
6) To experience new things
7) To help organization grow/fulfill its goals
8) To help society
9) To build a career
10) To help people
11) To make a difference to this world

"What do you bring here?" brought forth these answers.
1) Skills
2) Knowledge
3) Experiences
4) Attitude
5) Energy
6) Time
7) Potential
8) Hope
9) Humour /Happiness
10) Ideas
11) Work / Effort
12) Style
13) Ethics
14) Values
15) Opportunities

"What do you take from here?" brought forth these answers.
1) Salary
2) Experience
3) Growth
4) Skills
5) Leadership experience
6) Expertise
7) Team work - knowledge of
8) Human nature - understanding of
9) New relationships
10) Opportunities
11) Ideas
12) Exposure
13) Chance to serve others
14) Domain Knowledge
15) Sense of purpose
16) Satisfaction

The main reason why "we were there" was of course the fact that Gap Miners thought them best fit to achieve its goals and has given them the opportunity.

An analysis of where one ranks on each of the above - especially what one brings - can make a huge difference to the performance. They have been asked to observe, analyse the list and come with some action plan to best their effort. More on this next week.

Goal Setting and Preparation - Workshop for Teenagers October 27, 2013

Went off well. I figured there need to be 3 levels to this.

At level 1 of this workshop, there appears some clarity.
At level 2, the goals are refined and work monitored.
At Level 3, we launch a serious assault on the goal.

I think it frees the youngsters a bit from the burden of too many goals, too many expectations and gives some direction and clarity.

Some feedback
1) Got clearer with my goals. Got to know how to elaborate that one goal. Note each step properly and how to do it in a specific time span. - Arzoo

2) Came to know a lot about goal setting an how to plan to achieve the goal I have set. - Anushka

3) Came to realize a lot of things I was not aware about and cleared all my confusion. Now I'm clear and set on what I have to do and how /what I have to do to achieve it. - Tarini

4) I came to know how to keep a goal. I learnt so many things and got some confidence. - Tagore

5) It was a very good experience that taught me how to plan out my future with certain goals to which I look forward. definitely after going back home I would find myself little planned and have a clarity of what I am doing. Thank You!! - Nikitha

Am happy with the outcome. See you all on November 27, 2013.

Motivational Talk at the HCA

Delivered a talk at the Hyderabad Cricket Association's Rajeev Gandhi stadium at Uppal yesterday morning. The stadium is at least 17 kms from my house and it was getting hot even at 630 am. I was invited by Vidyuth (Jaisimha) who is the coach of the Under 16 boys for the summer camp. The Rajeev Gandhi stadium is a lovely stadium with all the facilities that anyone could ask for - gym, conference rooms, swimming pool, great practice facilities with all aids and props - you name it and you have it. I was prepared to talk to about 50 boys but we realized that about 25 of them were in the Under 14 category so I decided that we would stick to the older ones primarily.

It was good to see all my old cricketing friends who has turned into coaches - Anil Mittal (U-25 in 1985), Abhijit Chatterjee (U-19, U-22, Osmania University 1985-90), Riazuddin (HCA league), Ranga Raj (Osmania University)and Abrar Ahmed (HCA league) apart from Vidyuth with whom I have played all my cricket since Under - 15 days. We met in a large well furnished room with a mike and chairs (but no ac, instead we had huge fans that made more noise than any fan I have ever heard so we decided to do away with the fans and sweat it out). I was given an hour to deliver the talk and decided to focus on the importance of having a long term goal, short term goals and of preparation.

All boys gave out their long term goal which was to represent the country. I told them to take pride in their current achievement and to be focused on their long term goal and work for it. It was important to realise that only they are responsible for their goal and they must work for it - no one else is. I told them that it is best to break up their long term goal into smaller term goals and achieve each of them in a given time frame. When I asked them to come up with a short term goal for the camp and a target for the season, all of them came up to the dais and shared their plans. Some were very clear, some not, but all of them finally came up and shared their areas to work upon which was very encouraging. I emphasized on the importance of preparation - that they had only about 1600 days or about 5 years to make a mark if they wanted their goal to come true and they should use these days well. And that all of them stand a fair and equal chance of achieving their dream, depending on how they used their resources. The thought that they should know their strengths, work on their weak areas, push their limits farther and grow with each passing day was ingrained into them.

For a bunch of reticent and quiet cricketers, they gave me a spontaneous and standing applause which made the hour completely worth it. I ate some largely insipid but probably prescribed breakfast provided by the HCA and came back with a HCA T-shirt that Vidyuth gifted me for the effort. It's been ages since I owned one. I always prided my HCA logo.

Hitting rock bottom - the only way is up

A wrap up sesion with the Under-16 boys before they head out to Cooch Behar for the knockouts, and we had a small ten minute chat. I need to now capture the learnings and document them which I will when we get back in January 2010. Mood is upbeat, the fellows are in good spirits and mental space, I think we have a good case. Their wish list achievement level is incredible - someone setting a 500 target and achieving it or a 20 wicket target and getting 17 is amazing!
I wandered around here and there at the gymkhana ground meeting Yuvraj, Kamlesh, Vidyuth, Baig saab until the talk. Had breakfast even and then bumped into Shivlal for the pic.
Everone was keenly watching the Hyderabad U-19 match for the Cooch Behar where the was again looking at relegation to Plate level. Embarassing stuff!
Shiv looked embarassed at the Ranji performance. 'I dont know where to hide.' he said. 'The Ranji team has been relegated to Plate.'
It can only get better I said, now you've hit the bottom. There seemed to be some solace in that for all concerned around, including Chalapathi.
I remember I used the same words in the concluding speech at Gap Miners as well in the evening. I spoke about how the year had been difficult, how we had no commensurate result, how we can make things happen, how each should take more ownership, how we can make ten people experience the site, how we can put up our stickers on our cars instead of hiding them, well there was some rustling, lots of resistance but yes, some movement I hope. I put up the sticker on my car and did my bit. There was no movement to give me any extra stickers, bookmarks.
Gap Miners, you will be my biggest teacher by the end of it all!