Deep Roots Potent Legacy-All

BE FORGIVING In an organization, one deals with human beings day-in and day-out; and being human beings they are prone to commit mistakes once in a while. What they deserve is one more opportunity i.e. a forgiving response so that they can start anew and do some great work for the organization. One needs to keep in mind that no one is inherently bad. Sometimes someone may act erroneously in a moment of bad judgment; however that doesn't call for branding him as an inherently incompetent guy. Giving a second chance would do wonders in deriving the best out of the team. “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Mahatma Gandhi

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ENSURING FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE Three actions need to be taken to ensure flawless performance in the organization. Firstly weed the odd man out. If someone is a misfit for a particular job or in a particular department, then post a talent identification exercise shift him from his present department to the department where he would be more productive. Secondly promote talent in the organization. Those who are really talented and assets for a particular business operation, should be promoted and encouraged. These are the people who are not merely cogs in the wheel, but who associate themselves with the organization, with all of their hearts, souls and minds. Such people need to be identified and rewarded by being given befitting assignments so that they can work wonders for the company. Lastly, those employees who are good-for-nothing and rather a liability for the company need to be firmly shown the door. The organization should not suffer such dead wood and the solution lies in giving them a golden handshake. “Where performance is measured, performance improves. - Thomas S Monson

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THERE CANNOT BE AD-HOC DECISIONS For an organization, there is no such thing as an ad-hoc decision. Every single decision leaves an indelible imprint on the organization's image and it always has ramifications that need to be gauged, when a decision is taken. Precisely, that's why every decision that is taken must be coherent to the vision, mission and long-term philosophy of the organization. Decisions taken at the spur- of-the-moment to gain short-term benefits or popularity could be dangerously detrimental in the long run. “Positioning the brand and regaining trust are all smart things for us to do and those are the litmus tests for any decisions we make. - John McKinley

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PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE Execution is the competitive edge on which a company thrives. In an organization, there is a dire need for human assets with practical know-how rather than academicians. The top-most league in the organization should not merely share their futuristic thoughts with the employees; but they must possess the necessary skills and knowledge to lead the employees on the practical path of achieving positive results for the company. The senior management team should not be hired merely for the long list of degrees suffixing their names; but rather for their practical reservoir of experience with the help of which they can take the company as well as its employees to the next level of excellence. “Experience will guide us to the rules. You cannot make rules precede practical experience. - Antoine de Saint Exupery

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AROUSE PASSION It is the responsibility of the top management to ensure that every single employee in the organization looks at his work with great passion. However small may be the work, an employee should not look at it merely as a tool towards earning his bread; rather it should be looked upon as a rewarding, self-satisfying, stimulating experience. This will only happen when employees consider the organization as their own organization. As part of one big organizational family, they must have the assurance that the company would pro-actively address their routine and emergency needs. Passion is the key word for transforming an organization from good to great. “If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose. - T D Jakes

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SHARE YOUR PREMONITION Irrespective of whether one is an organizational head, part of the senior management team or a lower rung employee – premonitions regarding something going wrong which may adversely affect the company's business and balance sheet – must be promptly shared. One must continuously strive to be a whistle blower. Keeping on waiting for somebody else to speak first and giving one's confirming nod afterwards may cost irreparable damage to the organization and one's own future. At whatever level one is placed in the organizational hierarchy, one must be the eyes and ears of the top management. Isn't this the least YOUR organization deserves for taking care of you and your family's well-being? “ Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Martin Luther King Jr

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LIAISING Liaison is of critical significance for organizations to survive and thrive in the market place. Organizations function in the midst of labyrinthine rules and regulations and need to deal with innumerable governmental departments and authorities. This is precisely why there is a requirement for necessary liaison with various authorities. These liaisons not only ease business processes, but also help in gaining an in-depth understanding and insight from those in the positions of power as to how to avoid regulatory roadblocks and procure timely clearances to smoothly carry out business. Such liaisons also help in gaining a futuristic vision of regulatory decision-making and accordingly modifying business operations well in time. “ In the long history of mankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. - Charles Darwin

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SUBORDINATE YOURSELF Each and every employee of the organization, especially those sitting in the Board Room, need to subordinate themselves to the organization's vision and mission. These should not be treated as mere sentences documented on paper or the company website but rather earnestly followed in words and spirit. Instead of taking impulsive decisions and actions, employees or the employer need to first ask whether execution of a particular action is in harmony with the company's vision and mission or not. In case of the latter, execution of such a decision should be avoided at all costs. Always remember that the organization is a bigger entity than any individual however important his position may be in the hierarchy. “A leader's responsibility is to cause a vision and mission to have tangible results in the real world. - Henry Cloud

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LOOK AFRESH AT YOUR VISION AND MISSION Once in a while, say, every five years, organizations should take a fresh look at their vision and mission and ask themselves whether the same is befitting to the changing times. Habits and tastes are in a constant state of flux, be it - regular technological shifts; market dominance from one continent to another; coming of power of new governments and in their wake new ideologies etc. With all these happenings, it is necessary that once in a while, organizations look afresh at their vision and mission and if required, make necessary changes therein. To walk with the changing times is a pre-condition of business prosperity. A panel of experts should be preparing long-term (25 years) and short-term (3 years) vision and mission statements. “ In life, change is inevitable; in business change is vital. - Warren G Bennis

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WAKE UP CALLS Hardly any catastrophe strikes a company out-of-the- blue. Long before such a catastrophe actually takes place, there would be many a wake-up call. However the sheer arrogance and complacency of organizational heads restrains them from paying heed to such wake- up calls. In fact the need of the hour is a totally reverse behaviour! Even a whisper of a wake-up call should be enough to awaken the organizational antennas and push them to take necessary steps to ensure that the impending catastrophe is nullified. Andy Grove, Founder Intel has written an entire book about this and appropriately entitled it – 'Only the Paranoid Survive'. In business, a little sense of paranoia will go a long way in avoiding many impending disasters. “ Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive. - Andy Grove

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ACTION TAKEN REPORTS In an organization, if taken seriously meetings, minutes and action-taken reports have a very important role to play. Meetings should not be treated as informal gatherings; on the contrary all members should come prepared about every item on the agenda and positively contribute towards the discussion. Further every aspect of the discussion should be properly recorded in minutes and responsibility should be assigned with regards to who will do what work based on the minutes. In the next meeting action-taken reports should be submitted by all concerned departments and the same should be thoroughly discussed. An indirect way in which such an approach helps is that it sends a clear message to the entire team that the management means business. A management guru's perspective of meetings - \"If someone has an hour to investigate a company, I wouldn't recommend looking at the balance sheet. I'd suggest watching their execution team in a meeting for an hour. If they are clear and focused and have the board on the edge of their seats, I'd say this is a good company worth investing in.\" “One of the greatest failures of every generation is that it refuses to read the minutes of the last meeting. - David A Noebel

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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION Management must ensure that all their employees are kept well- informed through effective communication. In today's age of social media and technology, one cannot avoid getting deluged by rumours, hearsays and unwanted information. However the problem sets-in when employees start believing these false stories and acting accordingly. It is, therefore, the responsibility of management to keep its employees well and accurately informed through regular and clear communication and through mediums like circulars and newsletters. Change is the only constant in today's world… and if employees are not kept informed about impending change in all aspects of business then they would be caught unprepared to effectively face the changing scenario of business and harness such change for the benefit of the company. In today's environment, communication is not a luxury, but rather a necessity, which is to be carried out through newsletters, circulars, seminars, workshops etc. “The single most important lesson of effective communication is this: Focus on clarity. Concentrate on precisions. Don't worry about constructing beautiful sentences. Beauty comes from meaning, not language. Accuracy is the most effective style of all. - David Gerrold

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IDENTIFY THE CUSTOMERS FIRST… NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND Most organizations are adept at creating a product and then doing a market recce to identify customers for the products they have created. Their entire approach is focussed on motivating potential customers to look at things from their perspective and buy their products. However, the strategy should be exactly the opposite. One must first carry out market research and experienced and well-trained team members of the organization must identify who the customers are and what are their demands and sensibilities. Products should be prepared based on this market research. This will consume far less resources as products will be built for the ready-made customers. “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves. - Steve Jobs

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LUCK, CHARISMA AND PEDIGREE ONLY HELP YOU INITIALLY Luck, charisma and pedigree can only help work and persistence. Undoubtedly, pedigree one initially. Post which the next generation of gives one a flying start, but after that one leaders requires sheer hard work and needs one's own wings to continue soaring persistence to take the organization one notch high in the sky. higher thereby expanding the legacy they had been bestowed by their predecessors. All Pedigree... Charisma... Luck. While pedigree stakeholders will have equally high promises, the quality sustained by one's expectations and these can be met only if hard predecessor; charisma is only good enough to work is made the norm and goals are pursued increase the interest of the stake holders; and persistently. While the reputation preceding luck only favours the brave. So, sooner or later one is a big advantage; it can also be a these things would fade away and then it is stumbling block, since one's every action will one's hard and smart work, initiative, be measured against similar actions taken by persistence, commitment, confidence, one's predecessor. Therefore, in order to add assertiveness and persuasion that would help one's unique glorious chapter to the one to establish one's individual identity. organization's star studded history, one will need to put in an entire new dimension of hard So spread your wings and reach out to new skies... “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. - Thomas Jefferson

THE ENGAGED LEADER To understand the concept of - An engaged 2) Sharing Information: People, who do not leader - one needs to first know who share, close themselves off from others; while disengaged leaders are. those who over share watch their efforts at openness backfire, as people back away from Disengaged leaders mouth clichés. Phrases them. In a networked organization, when like - cutting costs; raise productivity; do more leaders share, they engage and attract with less etc. are a commonality with them. On followers. In essence, leaders become the contrary - more with less - actually facilitators, who accelerate the spread of punishes success. The more you do, all the information and shape the decision making more is expected out of you. More with less is process. Rather than guessing, what you are a short-term plan not a long-term strategy. thinking, when your team knows what you want Prioritizing short-term returns destroys people and expect, they can focus on delivering it. and organizations over the long-term. Disengaged leaders create policies and set 3) Finding Genuine Ways to Engage: goals, in isolation. They create defeated Engagement occurs when people feel workers. They ask for their best but burning up appreciated for a job well done. Long-term people is not a leadership skill. satisfaction is less about compensation and more about being in the team and part of Three steps viz. - listen, share and engage - something important. The art of engagement work together to create a runway for engaged includes deciding when and how to connect leaders to accomplish their goals: with the team in a focused way. 1) Listening Strategically: Listening helps one These three parts – listen at scale, share to to understand what people are engaged in shape and engage to transform – are fluid and and where they come from. The best talkers overlap. These steps are designed to help are also the best listeners. Listen for ideas, leaders develop their instincts, skills and opinions and complaints. Choose who and confidence. They require only an openness to what to listen to in order to accomplish the change, a willingness to practice and the goals you have set forth. dedication to prepare by anchoring strategy to goals and objectives. 86

“ Be an example. Are you prompt? Are you professional? Are you engaged? As leaders we have to set the bar high for ourselves as well as our teams. - Lori Richardson

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SMALL THINGS – BIG REPERCUSSIONS Little things… big consequences! All too often little things lead to big things – either for good or bad. This is termed the domino theory. All it takes is one small strategic action to set big things in motion and align with the actions of others. A small delay in responding to a customer's query may lead to a negative impression and loss of business on the longer term. Similarly a small step taken to generate customer delight may lead to much deeper business engagement. Same is the case when dealing with principals. If due to an act of negligence the confidence of a supplier is lost; it may lead to loss in future business when they decide to attach with some other partner and vice versa. Always remember – A stitch in time saves nine. “Little things make big things happen. - John Wooden

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MANAGEMENT IS THE PRIME MOVER An organization's success primarily depends upon the capabilities of its management else everything is a mere resource. It is the responsibility of the management to ensure the movement of all the available resources in the right direction, to ensure their upward journey and achieve desired results. An organization may have the finest work force, choice of raw material available, fund surplus - but if there is no effective management, then it becomes a rudderless ship. To borrow the words of Peter Drucker, \"Development is a matter of human energies rather than of economic wealth. And the generation and direction of human energies is the task of the management.\" The master key to success, thus, lies with the management. “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. - Stephen Covey

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YOUR CORE CUSTOMERS While all customers deserve highest attention, the organization needs to identify some core customers who bring in a major chunk of the business and it is these customers who need to be treated differentially. A simple way to identify such customers is to use the 80/20 Principle. According to this rule, 20 per cent of customers give 80 per cent of the company's business. So identifying customers who give 80 per cent of the total business will give us the core customers. The organization should identify its most talented employees in each department and give them the task to deal with these customers. Top management including the CEO should nurture these customers on a regular basis. The organization should have extra-sensitive antenna to identify the expectations of these customers and it should put in special efforts to address the same. Creating customer delight should be a part of the company's overall strategy especially for this set of customers. “ For us our most important stakeholder is not our stockholders, it is our customers. We're in business to serve the needs and desires of our core customer base. - John Mackey

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DISTINCTIVE VALUE PROPOSITION For surviving and flourishing in the market place, a business organization has to ponder over what would be its Distinctive Value Proposition (DVP). Basically it needs to identify what is that distinctive tangible/intangible that it can offer to the customers, something that will be the organization's USP. Then the next task is to set up a strategy to deliver this DVP to the customers. Promises that are not delivered are mere hollow words and detrimental to the organization's image. Therefore three steps need to be taken in this regard - ● Identifying the organization's DVP ● Creating capabilities to deliver on this DVP ● Introducing necessary change of mind-set amongst the employees to grasp the importance of DVP and help the organization deliver the same “What is your Unique Selling Proposition? What makes you different than your competitors? Wrap your advertising message around that USP and communicate it in a clear and concise manner. - Lynda Resnick

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FOCUS ON YOUR MEETINGS M e e t i n g m a n a g e m e n t i s n o t r o c k e t ● Do not allow people to give speeches science...but keeping the meeting on track instead of asking questions! requires discipline. ● Do not let people raise extraneous points. Here are some pointers for the same – Unrelated topics can degenerate a ● Make the purpose of the meeting clear. meeting. Try to refocus them on the stated Send an agenda and any background agenda. material well ahead of time so that ● Typically leaders progress from the topic everyone is on the same page. Also list out when they are ready to. But people don't what will NOT be discussed in the always move with you and get stuck in the meeting. Send agenda items as questions past. So ask if everyone is finished with e.g. instead of - Discuss work schedule; the current topic. This will keep the write - When will the work be completed? conversation focused. Next to each item mention if participants ● A productive meeting needs to end on the are sharing information, contributing ideas right note to set the stage for the work to or taking a decision. continue. Ask - who will take the next step; ● Next cap the number of participants. While who will take responsibility for the same; with too many participants, people won't what should the time frame be. Record the be attentive or take responsibility for what answers and send out an email so that is happening; with too few people, there everyone is on the same page. “may be a dire lack of diversity of opinion. As a leader, you must consistently drive effective communication. Meetings Only include those who are critical to themust be deliberate and intentional – meeting. ● Be a steward of all the ideas in the room. Be open to hearing others' perspectives. your organizational rhythm should Explain that no one has all answers. Be value purpose over habit and willing to be wrong. Make the participants see the meeting as a puzzle. They need effectiveness over efficiency. to figure out how they fit in together. - Chris Fussell

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MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND To effectively manage matters, a manager, instead of keeping put in his cabin, should walk around the factory floor or the office premises - meeting consumers, distributors and employees; talking to people; seeking opinion and feedback. Complacency is a curse for any business. What today's management must have is an aptitude for constant communication, mails, informal conversations etc. In case of an emergency, a manager should be able to call the distributor in the middle of the night and the latter should be ready to respond to such a call. Merely sitting in the office won't help, repeating the same old strategy won't help unless it is broken down into execution. There should be clarity and accountability in each person' role. Leaders have to be in constant touch with their people and consumers. “A great man is always willing to be little. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS? This question seems to be simple, but in reality, the answer is not that simple. An organization's business is not that which is inscribed in its Articles of Incorporation or what is reflected in its vision, mission, goals and targets. Rather, the first and foremost business of an organization is to satisfy its customers. Everything else - the vision and mission, the Articles of Incorporation etc. - boils down to this. Therefore, the answer, to what is an organization's business, can be accurately received from outside i.e. from the point of the view of the customer and the market. The management has to objectively accept with utmost seriousness all that the customer sees, thinks, believes, and wants, at any given point of time. For this, what is mandatory is ingraining regular inter-action with customers in the organization's core values and philosophy. “Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships. - Michael Dell

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IT ALL COMES DOWN TO... If all the layers of all your actions are removed, then underneath it all, there is either a fear or a dream. As management, one may take action, out of fear of consequences - rather imagined consequences- and every time you take such an action, it is in response to the single question, \"What will people say?\" Alternatively one may take action borne out of a dream, the company's dream that the action taken would bring recognition, that it would make the company a trendsetter, that it would earn it encomiums and applauds. This is precisely why one should act, borne out of dream and not out of the fear of consequences. Dream big, put in sustained efforts and rest assured that if you aim for the moon and don't get it, at least there will be some shining stars falling into your lap! “ Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear. - George Adair

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FOCUS ON THE FUNDAMENTALS An organization with strong fundamentals will not only survive but will continue to thrive even when the headwinds are strong. Every business has to pass through cycles – a little bit of slowdown here and there – but if the fundamentals are strong, such cycles will barely leave a scar on the business. In times of recession, such wise companies focus more on - strengthening fundamentals, research and development, understanding their customers, ensuring that their funds are wisely invested and human resources development. It is such companies that are ready to ride on the wave when the market turns bullish. As a leader, the perspective one needs to bring in is to see how one can create end-to-end effectiveness in the organization to ensure that the company remains extremely effective in its dealings when the cycle begins its upward journey. “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise. - Michael Jordan

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THE PYRRHIC VICTORY One of the gravest follies that entrepreneurs can commit is indulging in one-upmanship. For example, creating a price-war will not only harm competitors, but also one's own business. When an entrepreneur brings his ego to the desk and into business decisions then he becomes ruthless deciding to win a particular transaction at any cost, going to any limits, which would be critically detrimental to the organization. Albeit, one may win a particular contract at the end of the day, but at a heavy price – extremely exorbitant resources (in terms of time, funds and energy) which would be totally irretrievable! Hence the term Pyrrhic Victory meaning a hollow victory which inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to negating any sense of achievement or profit. Therefore one needs to be a responsible entrepreneur keeping the ego in check. “One more such victory and we are undone. - Pyrrhus of Epirus

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