To LEAD is to Leader

Sheena TV

Learning & Development specialist

Wipro Limited

To LEAD is to #Leader

This year, Maria and Jane were the 2 lucky ones who had been shortlisted for best leader’s award. Both the nominated ones were bright employees and had been handling teams for years. Jane was highly disciplined and was considered a gifted specialist across. Maria was equally disciplined and was known to stick her neck out for the team’s issue and was also visible to everybody across the floor.

Tensions were high. Both Maria and Jane were excited about the award and were silently egging their friends to vote for them… After a fortnight passed, the winner was finally declared! Maria had a dead win! And surprisingly with barely any competition from Jane. Jane was slightly disappointed, but still feigned happiness for Maria. She noticed all her team members hooting and cheering for Maria. She couldn’t understand what was wrong? Why did they not vote for her?

Let’s say, you had to pick an ideal leader amongst the Captains of Indian Cricket team. Who would it be? And Why?

We all know that Indian cricket has seen a lot of great captains leading the team. However,one person who created fireworks on the field and has been known for his shrewd captaincy is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He is the most successful cricket captain with 27 wins in test matches, 110 wins in one day internationals and 41 wins in twenty – twenty matches. He is never seen agitated and mostly remains calm under pressure. He has been able to LEAD the Indian team and get the desired result,hence known as one of the most successful leader India has ever had in Cricket.

Similarly, Jane was known for her proficiency and was always considered an awesome employee. However, there were few leadership qualities that Maria incurred over a period of years that made her LEAD the show. Some of the elements that qualifies to be a good leader are:

Lead from the Front:

This is one of the most crucial element expected out of a leader. We all have heard it quite often ‘Best leaders lead from the front’. It is all about playing an active role to accomplish tough things and set an example. It is not about ‘Do what I have asked you to’ it is about ‘I am equally willing to do whatever I have asked all of you to do’.

We all know, Dhoni always faced challenges heads on. The way he pushed himself up the batting order in 2011 final is the best example to prove the point. Chasing 275 in the final against Sri Lankans, after losing early wickets, he decided to promote himself up the batting order and scored a match winning 91 which helped India retrieve the moment of lifting the trophy after decades.

Empathy

Have you ever had misunderstanding at work? We cannot agree to all the points all the time. There would be disagreements and difference of opinion at work. However, empathy implies building connection, understanding subordinate’s problems, other’s experience and perspectives. It does not require us to agree to their point of view, however it is important that we are willing to understand and appreciate their point. Lack of empathy can have a terrible downfall. Now the question is, Can empathy be learned? Well, according to me it is an innate trait that can be acquired to some extent. Some people naturally have it and some don’t, it is important for a leader to realize if he/she is empathetic or not.

Dhoni has demonstrated his empathetic side on the field and off the field quite often. He letting Ganguly captain the side for a short while during his last test match was highly appreciated. Who can forget the moment when he chose to completely move aside, as team India took Tendulkar on their shoulders after winning the World Cup in the year 2011, this act of Dhoni still remains ever green in millions of heart.

Adaptability

Are you ready to change?Adaptability is not about embracing change, it is about exhibiting extra ordinary resilience.

You may have an end goal and well planned strategy to reach it, but a good leader is the one who is ready to adapt to the demands of the moment. While doing that, a lot of unforeseen or unpredictable situations might creep in, however a great leader is the one who welcome’s and views it as an opportunity and takes it to his/her advantage.

Dhoni gives his best in all the formats. The ability to adapt to various forms of the games and perform better every time shows how open he is to learn new things and adjust to the changing needs. He is a clear reader of his games, he knows exactly which player to pick and drop. He is also known to experiment by shifting his players up and down the batting and bowling orders to his team’s advantage.

Decision Making Capability

A good leader needs to be inclusive, when the moment of truth comes into light, he/she shouldn’t hesitate to make bold decisions. A leader needs to maintain calm all times and understand his/her business well and take appropriate decisions in the changing context. If anything goes wrong, it’s important to promptly admit the mistake as well. Sometimes,challenging strategy and standing by instincts to take bold decisions can be a game changer.

Dhoni is known to follow his instinct than a well thought out strategy most of the times, he has been proved right in many occasions. In the Champions Trophy Final against England, the data dictated him to ideally choose Umesh Yadav to bowl the crucial over however he decided to send Ishant Sharma which ultimately turned the match for India.

MS Dhoni has proved himself to be a great leader a Leader who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way’Now the question is ‘Do you want to be MS Dhoni at your level? If yes, LEAD elements will aid you climb the ladder to be a successful LEADer.

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Artificial Intelligence in Recruiting

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Bajeesh Balakrishnan

Artificial Intelligence in Recruiting

This is from an era of human transition wherein, it says that years ago hominids turned people developed the art of fire. Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist from Harvard stated that the hominids have had this so-called master brain and small jaws, and they mastered the fire, which was primarily for cooking and meet the hunger. Later, several archeologist came forward to present his or her own versions of human transition and invention of fire. As the time progressed and the human life continued to exist and developed their existence from a traditional way of doing a work or a business to a much more advance way of performing the work or business. Technology has played a crucial role in revamping the businesses, and from a traditional way of performing a job manually (skilled worker job) to a moderate way of performing the business through analog devices and computers to a very advance way performing job through advance computers and robotics.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a boom in this digital world. There seem to be a complexity in the society that we live in, which says that all the jobs done by human, will be taken over by the so called Robots in coming years, which in turn is causing an uncertainty in the minds of people. As the job market revolves on the skill sets and technology there seem to be either a scarcity of work force in the areas of business or there is a significant raise in the salaries of people performing the skilled jobs, which is creating a negative impact on the business.

Recruiter’s job is proving to be highly challenging, as there seem to be a dearth of quality candidates versus the amount of open positions that are available to close. Artificial intelligence in recruiting has the potential to boost the recruiting experience from a recruiter and a candidate point of view. Imagine how Amazon’s Alexa uses AI to understand the voice commands to answer the basics of customer queries or an Otto, the self-driving truck that drove miles to deliver beer through Denver.

The growing challenges in recruiting and with the scarcity of getting the right people for the right job there is always an element of whether or not a recruiter is able to give enough time to shortlist and select a right candidate. Here, Artificial Intelligence can come in to the picture by performing few basic checks that often a recruiter misses to validate thoroughly and push the candidates to the next round of interviews. At times, a recruiter cannot even validate certain credentials of the candidates, which is because there is a large pool of candidates attending interviews and affecting his or her workload or simply does not have the right access control to get in depth of a candidate profile and validate. For example: A machine-learning algorithm has the potential to judge the communication of candidates and the job fitment by giving a far better output and in addition to this, the question is how many candidates are actually receiving feedback on the interviews that they attended with a company in recent times. The recruiters or the HR literally falls short of the feedback chain mechanism to fulfill and close the loop during a complete hiring cycle.

There seems to be questions on what are all the top recruiting skills that AI is less likely to replace in comparison with a human involvement. Some of them could be candidate relationship, measuring the interpersonal skills of the candidates, negotiate the offers with candidates, and convince them to join the Company, analyzing the candidates potential and know-how beyond credentials, and analyzing the fitment of a candidate from a company’s cultural point of view.

With the introduction and implementation of Artificial Intelligence in recruiting, it is certain that the role and responsibilities of a recruiter is going to change from typical profile/bio-data pushers to a much more responsible role as Talent Advisors or Talent Consultants. Artificial Intelligence will come into existence as a medium to interact and help the recruiters to their job better. It can take up certain challenges to improve on the overall experience of a recruitment in terms of sourcing, screening applications etc. and recruiters can take up more challenges in terms of building relationships, talent mapping and act more like a strategic partner in the hiring process.

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Going Beyond Resume

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Jonnalagadda Kumar

Going Beyond Resume

In the fast paced environment of hiring nos. / filling candidates as per Project requirements, there are instances where the candidate turns out to be best performers / failures on the floor post recruiting.

If the Recruitment team has to go beyond the resume, first of all the team should be adequately trained and provided with the required resources in terms of Time, Manpower and support.

About RESUMES

How a Resume looks in general

A brief resume which talks about personal details and not in detail about professional achievements
A resume, where the resume talks about both personal and professional details in brief
A resume where the details run in pages giving a detailed description of all personal and professional achievements

How to Go “BEYOND THE RESUME”

As a Recruiter / Interviewer, he/she has to go through the resume, prepare notes on the questions to be asked or the detailing to be done.
Once done, the candidate shall be called and a detailed discussion shall happen covering all aspects right from schooling to the recent job and the achievements.
Recruiter / Interviewer should spend at least 30-60 minutes with each candidate to understand the Strengths / Areas of Improvements / Career highlights / expectations and record the same
The details should be shared with other Interviewers so that they can add their comments / suggestions
Prepare a detailed notes / synopsis of each candidate culminating as a CANDIDATE PROFILE, so that the candidate is known thoroughly

By religiously following the procedure, the details can be captured and the candidate can be placed in the right position by providing right environment

All teams in the Organization should plan well in advance about the requirements, so that Recruitment team is provided adequate time to hire the right candidate.

Above all, the Recruitment Team should be trained enough in mastering the art of going “BEYOND THE RESUME”

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Intricate Path of a Successful Entrepreneur

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Deepa Gramopadhye

One Connect Business Solutions

Intricate Path of a Successful Entrepreneur

There is a theory that says leaders are born. To take the same quote forward, I say, entrepreneurs are born. But that is not the end of the story. First of all, understanding that trait within yourself is the first step of preparing yourself to become an entrepreneur. You would see people around who can see business opportunities everywhere right from movie theatre to their own work place.

It is not only that trait or that instinct which would make you successful. There are numerous factors equally important. First one to quote is your networking ability. If it is a start up who would give you the business and why… If you have the network to support, a group of people who know you and trust your capabilities, you can have your initial client base ready and that would help you during initial phase of struggle. Again, getting couple of clients is still easy than keeping the same clients over the period of time. Having repeated customers is more difficult that getting a new one. But once you have the customer base of loyal customers, you have walked a step ahead.

We all accept importance of customer service but the question remains how do we achieve the same. Entrepreneurship is nothing but association of many people wherein they all start working to achieve your dream and that too so genuinely as if it was their own dream. It is converting a bunch of people into a team. It is understanding their strengths and areas of improvement too and to know precisely whom to give which responsibility. In short, managing your human capital effectively and efficiently.

Uniqueness of your product and knowing the customers is another critical aspect. If there are n number of other companies/firms offering similar product/service what is the uniqueness of your product. What is special about it that the customer would get attracted. Marketing plays important role here. Quality of the product/service is the soul and that is undoubtedly important. More challenging is conveying the same to your clients/customers. Passion of the entrepreneur should be conveyed to the customer only then can a customer can get connected to your business.

All in all, you should have a clear vision and a specific business plan (which would cover your operational details, HR strategy, Marketing management and Finance management). All these can be taught in a management school. There is one more factor, that X factor which can not be imparted and that is “PASSION”. If you have it for the business, start preparing and keep going. All The Best.

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Keys to Successful Organizational Development

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Nicky kapila

Probe service Pvt ltd

Sr. Manager Operations.

Keys to Successful Organizational Development

The companies that have done the best over the long haul are those who are the most creative and innovative. These organizations don’t copy what others do; instead, they may use innovative ideas from others as a spring board to come up with a unique application, product, or service for themselves. They tend to distance themselves from the competition rather than compete with them. If they see another company copying what they do, they create something new and better. In other words, they are able to leverage their creativity and their innovative capabilities to attain long-term success.

Would you like to be one of those organizations? You can be. In fact, all companies can be more creative and innovative no matter what their expertise, product, or service. When you apply creativity and innovation to everything aspect of your business, you are able to stay ahead of a changing marketplace and the competition.

What is Creativity?

Creativity is a function of knowledge, curiosity, imagination, and evaluation. The greater your knowledge base and level of curiosity, the more ideas, patterns, and combinations you can achieve, which then correlates to creating new and innovative products and services. But merely having the knowledge does not guarantee the formation of new patterns. The bits and pieces must be shaken up and iterated in new ways. Then the embryonic ideas must be evaluated and developed into usable ideas. In other words, there really is a process.

To help you master that process, you first must understand three important levels of creativity, which are discovery, invention, and creation.

#1. Discovery: The lower level of creativity is discovery. Just as the name implies, it’s when you become aware of or stumble upon something—discover it. For example, there is art called “discovered art.” It might be a rock with a unique shape or a piece of wood with an interesting pattern. If you have ever purchased a piece of natural stone or wood art, that art was discovered art. Many inventions start with a discovery.

#2. Invention: A higher level of creativity is invention. For example, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. But you have to ask yourself, “Would the telephone have been invented without Bell?” The answer is yes. Eventually the telephone would have been invented because the science was there. It might have taken longer, but it would have happened. So while invention is higher than discovery, it’s something that is going to happen. If you don’t invent it, someone else will.

#3. Creation: Creation is the highest level of creativity. For example, the stage play Othello is genuinely a creation. Elizabethan drama would have gone on without Shakespeare, but no one else would have written Othello. Similarly, there are things that only your organization can create! The key is tapping in to what those things are.

Here’s an example of how this could play out in your company. While at a conference you might discover a tool, a technology, or a process that you didn’t know before. You purchase the tool for your staff, and that discovery helps everyone work better. After some time, that discovery may also spur an innovative idea of how to apply the discovery. You may then use that innovative idea as an inspiration that yields something never seen before, something created by your company that helps you and your customers. That’s how the three levels of creativity can work together.

Realize that creativity and innovation are different. Creativity refers to generating new and novel ideas. Innovation refers to the application of an idea and, in many cases, is a collaborative enterprise. So in other words, innovation is applied creativity. Or if I put my creative speaker hat on, I might say, “Creativity is a bioelectrical thunderstorm that precipitates an inescapable notion.”

10 Strategies for Increasing your Creativity and Innovation

Now that you understand the various levels of creativity, you can implement some strategies that will boost your company’s ability to create and innovate.

Truly creative people have developed their ability to observe and to use all of their senses, which can get dull over time. Take time to “sharpen the blade” and take everything in.
Innovation is based on knowledge. Therefore, you need to continually expand your knowledge base. Read things you don’t normally read.
Your perceptions may limit your reasoning. Be careful about how you’re perceiving things. In other words, defer judgment.
Practice guided imagery so you can “see” a concept come to life.
Let your ideas “incubate” by taking a break from them. For example, when I’m working on a big business project, one of the best things I can do to take a break from it is play my guitar or the flute for a few minutes, or take a ride on my motorcycle. It shifts my brain into another place and helps me be more innovative and creative.
Experience as much as you can. Exposure puts more ideas into your subconscious. Actively seek out new experiences to broaden your experience portfolio.
Treat patterns as part of the problem. Recognizing a new pattern is very useful, but be careful not to become part of it.
Redefine the problem completely. One of the lines I’ve been sharing for the past few decades is: “Your problem is not the problem; there is another problem. When you define the real problem, you can solve it and move on.” After all, if you had correctly defined the real problem, you would have solved it long ago because all problems have solutions.
Look where others aren’t looking to see what others aren’t seeing.
Come up with ideas at the beginning of the innovation process … and then stop. Many times we come up with several ideas and start innovating, and then we come up with more ideas and never get a single idea done. At some point you have to turn off the idea generation part of the process and really work on the innovation and execution part in order to bring a project to life.

Create Your Own Success

The more creative and innovative you and your team members are, the more long-term success you’ll achieve. So rather than constantly chase “the next big idea” in your industry, bring creativity and innovation to what you’re currently doing. When you do, you’ll be regarded as an industry innovator—the one your competitors are trying to copy.

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Be assertive to get what you want, effortlessly!

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Billy Paul Ebenezer

Consultant – Center for Behavioural Excellence

Wipro Limited

Be assertive to get what you want, effortlessly!!!

“I need an ice-cream, Daddy”

“Buddy, I felt hurt by what you said yesterday”

“Darling, can you please make love slowly, it is quite painful”

“I am afraid I won’t have time today to work on this project”

“I believe your idea may not be accepted by the client”

“I think I am long overdue for a promotion”

Do you find yourself at ease to express all you wish to say? Do you always get what you want without raising your blood pressure? Whether it is a teenager or a seasoned professional, everyone struggles from time to time to express their thoughts and feelings in an appropriate manner. Either we express too much and deny the rights of others, or we express little to nothing and deny our own rights. Either way, the outcome of these interactions leads only to stress and unproductive work.

The key to leading a meaningful and productive life, where you effortlessly get what you want is to be assertive, and not aggressive or passive. Assertiveness is expressing your thoughts and feelings openly and honestly without denying the rights of others. Oftentimes, we are not assertive because we assume communicating the truth will inconvenience the other person. However, what we don’t realize is speaking anything other than the truth, even by remaining silent, will have far-reaching consequences.

To communicate assertively, one must have a healthy view about themselves and the other person(s) involved in the communication. Assertive communicators aren’t afraid to express themselves because they aim for a win-win solution in every encounter and interaction. Besides, assertive communicators get what they want due to the enormous respect they command by being open,honest, and respectful in their communication.

Do you want to be treated like a doormat? Do you wish to be ignored? If not, then stop being passive where you cede to every demand; and stop being aggressive by forcing things your way. Instead, speak your mind loudly yet softly. Who knows, perhaps, your boss was just waiting for you to become assertive before awarding you that long-awaited promotion!

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An ancient approach to modern management

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Vasudevan Easwaran,

Senior Manager,

Centre for behavioral Excellence,

Talent transformation, Wipro ltd…

Saha Naav-Avatu |Saha Nau Bhunaktu |

An ancient approach to modern management.

Once a learned man was crossing a river in a small wooden boat with a boatman. The wise one started boasting about how knowledgeable he was and different books that he had read.He asked the boatman if he had read any of them, to which he got a negative reply. All the while, the learned man was trying to pull a discolored cork, which was stuck to the base of the boat. The boatman tried to dissuade him from touching the cork.The learned one with a grimace on his face, pulled out the cork and said,” If you have not read any of those books, your life is a waste”.The boat suddenly started leaking&the boatman asked, “Oh wise man, do you know to swim?” He replied, “I Have read many books on swimming, but I haven’t tried it. The boatman went to the edge of the boat and as he was preparing to dive into the water, turned around and said, “Your whole life has gone waste, learned one, the boat is sinking! The cork you just pulled out, kept the water from entering the boat.”Do we sometimes find ourselves trapped similar to situation of the learned one? Learning for most of us happens to be either academic or thru experiences. Sometimes, we think that we have learnt enough.We may also choose what to learn and from whom. Moreover, like the learned one above, who would want to listen to a boatman?

While the story above may sound like a parable, let me share a recent one. A company which ranked 47^th in the fortune 500 list , having more than 17000 patents worth between 2-4 billion, files for bankruptcy. The reason; all its competitors overtook this one which wasonce a pioneer in its field of photography and prints. Well you got it right; the company we are talking about is Kodak. Surprisingly the boatman in this example was Steve Sasson who was an engineer working for Kodak. He created the first prototype of digital Camera, way back in 1975. Though it looked big and clunky, it had all the ingredients of a modern day digital camera. The management responded to Steve in a rather strange way, “It is kind of cute, but don’t tell anyone about it”. Another not so very well-known fact is that Kodak acquired a photo sharing site called OFOTO in 2001 but never thought of using it like a Facebook or Instagram. What is the common thread in the above examples? We have instances where companies who have been pioneers, led by knowledgeable team yet have failed. What did they fail at? They failed at learning and relearning. This aspect draws me to some of the ancient Indian philosophies, which find relevance to current times.

Be aware – Be alive – Learning is perennial.

People often find themselves caught in the belief that learning is a onetime process and mostly at the beginning of their career.Sometimes they do not want to learn as it pushes them out of their comfort zone.

An important thought that comes in Taittriya Upanishad :

“Saha Naav-Avatu |Saha Nau Bhunaktu |Saha Viiryam Karavaavahai |Tejasvi Naav-Adhiitam-Astu Maa Vidvissaavahai |”

Beautifully explains the bond between the teacher and the student where both of them pray to God to protect them in the journey of learning, where they shouldwork together with energy and vigor, where the journey should be enlightening, without animosity between both for learning. Further correlated thoughts from ancient scriptures are

Learn from anyone;learn from every one

Sometimes we are selective about whom we learn from. Often looking for position of authority or credibility of the teacher. Lets’ not be like the learned one in the story of the boatman or the senior management of Kodak who ignored subtle messages from people around.

Chanakya quotes in his Arthashastram:

“Vishad amrutam grahyam baladapi subhashitam ।amitradapi sadvruttam amedhyaadapi kanchanam ॥ “

Which translates to “ Grab nectar even if it a from poison,Accept ‘sensible utterances’ even if it is from a child,Grasp good virtues even if it is from enemies, Extract Gold even if it is from dirt!!! Similarly learn from your juniors, your competitor, learn from nature and just keep learning.

Be curious. Keep enquiring.

Have you ever come across chirpy 4 year olds? How many questions do they ask in a day? A research done by “The Telegraph”news UK shows 4 year olds ask around 390 questions to their mothers!

Yoga Vashisht says it all in just 2 words ie. “Vicharah param gnanam”, Meaning Enquiry is the highest form of wisdom.

As we grow, we should not loose curiosity or stop enquiring and questioning.

Invest in acquiring knowledge& take effort

Corporates and leaders need to invest time and money for learning for it to become a part of corporate culture. As acquiring knowledge needs efforts there is a definitive need to take constructive steps in those lines. Another Sanskrit verse says

“Vidya rupam kurupanam, nirdhananam dhanam tatha |nirbalanam balam vidya, sadhanIya prayatnatah ||”
Knowledge is the beauty of the not-beautiful and wealth of the not-wealthy.It is power of the powerless, and it isobtained with lot of effort.Similarly, knowledge can be a source of power and give you the competitive advantage.

Do not blindly follow authority.

There are times one is forced to agree to a point of view,because it comes from a position of authority. Leaders need to create a culture where one need not fear having a counter view. This is beautifully explained in the below verse from Taitriya Upanishad, where the student is advised not to follow the teacher blindly.

Yanyasmakagum sucharitani . tani tvayopasyani।no itarani |

A teacher should be a role model, but here, the Guru himself suggests that students should not follow them blindly. They should follow only that conduct of the teachers which is considered good (su-charita) and not otherwise ( no itarani) . Similarly leaders should appreciate a counter view and breed a culture where suggestions are expressed freely.

This actually talks about having an independent view from the seniors or leaders.

While we have examples where companies did not have learning as a key driver, we also examples where companies have created a culture of continuous learning.

General Electric: It has a Management development center at Crotonville. The senior managers practice continuous learning by teaching and learning at critical transitions in their career by returning to Crotonville.
Pizza Hut: It recognizes the lifetime value of their customers; it continually improves & implements technology as it considers them as long-term assets.
Honeywell: Applies Six-Sigma approaches, improves quality while costs are correspondingly decreased.
Toyota Motor Co: It uses lean manufacturing and continuous improvement to make minor but consistent improvements in products and processes.

We live in a world that is highly volatile and unpredictable. During such times, let us not shy away from acquiring knowledge. As mentioned in the Vishnu Purana “Vidyā yā vimuktaye”:- Knowledge is one that liberates.

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Analyzing Performance Management

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Pankaj Narayan,

Manager – HR

J K Files India Ltd

Analyzing Performance Management

The ability to manage employee performance well is a critical part of any successful organisation. Yet, too often, performance management is misunderstood or executed in a clumsy way that can actually harm employee engagement, motivation and, ultimately, performance.

1. Not ensuring your people understand the big picture

Too many companies fail to make their employees aware of the bigger picture around performance management, specifically how their individual performance relates to the company’s wider strategy and goals. To feel empowered and invested in a common purpose, employees need to understand what direction the company is moving in, and what goals it is working towards. That’s why the most successful companies are ones that clearly articulate shared goals and foster a sense of working towards a common mission. It’s therefore vital that leaders regularly communicate key messages about the company’s future, and connect the work of individuals, teams and departments to that future.

2. Not getting employees’ buy-in

Leaders must get buy-in right across the company if they are to effectively execute performance management processes. Transparency is critical here. When employees feel that a set of benchmarks or a new review system is handed down without dialogue, without understanding what the process is about, they are far less likely to be engaged with the process. But, by making sure your teams understand the bigger picture, and how that picture is relevant to their jobs and performance, you create a sense of buy-in, trust and inclusivity.

3. Having no regular (and meaningful) two-way conversations about performance

Many companies think performance management is about holding an annual performance review, where various metrics are reviewed and targets set for the following year. Annuals reviews are certainly one part of the picture. However, good performance management involves reviewing performance more regularly, and in an open, meaningful way. This means not just giving feedback on individual performance, but also receiving feedback from your people, for example, on leadership performance and system management.

4. Having no indicators at all, or the wrong indicators

If you aren’t measuring indicators, you have no way of knowing how the business is performing and whether it is on the right track to achieve its strategic goals. So, it’s crucial you set up the systems to measure key performance indicators. However, some companies go to the other extreme and measure everything that can possibly be measured. But, having too much information, or the wrong information, can be as harmful as having none at all, because it wastes precious time and resources.

5. Setting vague goals

Most leaders know that the best goals are SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Yet, all too often, goals can be incredibly woolly. It’s no use charging individuals in a team with a goal to improve customer service, without pinning down exactly what that means and how it will contribute to the organisation’s overall performance. It is far better, for example, to set specific goals like reducing the average time customers spend on hold in a call centre queue from three minutes to 90 seconds.

6. Not dealing with under-performance

Managing under-performance is tricky and no manager enjoys it. This means it’s often swept under the rug and ignored. Sometimes metrics are even manipulated to give the impression that everything is fine. This doesn’t do anyone any favours – not the individual in question, who is deprived of the opportunity to learn and grow, not the manager, who may face resentment from other team members who have to “pick up the slack”, and certainly not the organisation as a whole, which needs every area of the business to be performing at its best. It’s therefore important to identify low performers and have those difficult conversations where necessary.

7. Not recognising, celebrating and rewarding good performance

Just as low performance is often overlooked or ignored, sadly, good performance often goes unrecognised. This can leave employees feeling unmotivated and disconnected from the business’s common purpose. That’s why every company should develop appropriate ways to recognise and celebrate high-performing individuals and teams. And, although financial rewards are commonplace, they aren’t the only kind of recognition. Employees often value praise, opportunities for development, and flexibility as much as (and oten more than) financial compensation.

8. Focusing too much on tools and tick-boxes

A lot of business leader think that, because they have various performance improvement systems and tools in place, that they have everything covered. This can be a dangerous way of thinking, as it can encourage stagnation. The best kind of performance management isn’t about fancy tools, rigid systems and tick-boxes – it’s about creating a culture of continual improvement.

9. Chasing targets rather than improved performance

Building a system of targets and incentives can be dangerous in business. When individuals and teams become so focused on hitting targets, they can become pretty creative in how they manipulate information so it looks like they’re bang on track. However, while there is a place for setting targets and benchmarks, it should always be within the wider scope of creating a high-performance culture. Focus should therefore always be on how well the company or team is performing in relation to the company’s wider goals.

10. Using performance management tools to micro-manage and control

Done well, performance management should empower your people, not be used as a system to control and micro-manage them. Employees who are invested in the performance management process, and who understand the bigger picture, feel a greater sense of trust, authority and accountability. This means they are far better equipped to manage their own performance, make good decisions that benefit the company, and respond to the organisation’s needs appropriately. When they feel like performance management is a one-way dictatorship, motivation – and performance – plummets.

By avoiding these mistakes and making proper use of performance management tools and techniques, business leaders can lay the foundation for an organisation that is built on trust, transparency and a sense of working together to achieve common goals. This creates the perfect conditions for a high-performance culture and business success.

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Strategize Your Way Up

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Ashfaq Khan Ghori

Consultant

Center for Behavioral Excellence – Talent Transformation

Wipro Limited

Strategize Your Way Up

“We can’t solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them” Albert Einstein

In 2015, Price Water House Coopers (PwC) conducted a study of 6,000 senior executives using a method of research developed by William Torbert of Boston University and David Rooke of Harthill Consulting. Open-ended questions were asked to the executives, their responses were analyzed to determine which type of leaders were the most prominent. According to the analysis, “Only 8% emerged as “strategic thinkers and leaders.”

However, we have many leaders who are working to increase this percentage of strategic intent in people.

Indira Nooyi Chief executive of PepsiCo believes in giving her team the leadership charge of key impactful projects, she makes sure the team goes through a variety of real time learning experiences. This leads to phenomenal visibility and strategic idea generation.

Steve Jobs –the late Leader of Apple, created a fantastic climate for his team to think strategically. He gave clear objectives to his leaders and made them think about the future yet being focusedin the “here and now moment”.

In today’s volatile and ambiguous world, it is important for all of us to think and lead strategically. Let us see how some of the key strategic quotients will help in strategic thinking and leading:

1.SBQ – Strategic Big Picture Quotient:

To improve the quotient in strategic thinking and leading, it is important for the leader to understand the big picture of the organization. The leadercan apply the 5W and 1H methodology and ask key questions to align with the big picture of the organization to think strategically.

Some of the questions could be:

Why does the organization exist?

What do we want to achieve?

Who are our competitors?

Where do we want be 5 years later?

When do we make the profits?

How do we connect with our stakeholders?

The clarity of the big picture helps the leaders to think strategically and take futuristic decisions.

SNQ – Strategic Network Quotient

Strategic Leader needs to build the network internally in the organization as well as externally with key stakeholders. The saying goes “Network is your Net worth”. The external network will give a lot of visibility to understand the current technologies and the trends in the industry. It might open up new avenues of strategic direction for the organization. It will also help the leader learn about what is new in the market. Networking has to be one of the core strength for being strategic.

3.STQ – Strategic Time Quotient:

The leader has to balance and increase his strategic quotient time to focus in strategic thinking. The operational demand of daily tasks and routine will always be there and pull them away from thinking strategically. It is important to allocate time to read the market, build your knowledge, and focus on activities that will affect strategically both internally and externally. Every leader has the same 24hrs, but how they utilize their time makes a huge difference to the team and organization.

SCQ – Strategic Change Quotient:

Leaders of today are living in an era of disruptive changes affecting their industries. They need to be vigilant in anticipating these changes. There are many examples of leaders in organizations like Kodak, HMT who did not anticipate or embrace the change and the organization had to facethe consequences. In contrast, the leaders of organizations like Google, Apple, and Teslaare thriving, riding the change, continuously anticipating and embracing the disruptive changes; they are willing to analyze, takethe risksand connect with the latest global trends. To build a strategic future,the leaders need to become the positive change agents from the mind and heart.

SPQ – Strategic People Quotient:

People are the major asset of an organization; they make or break the success of the organization. The leaders need to create an environment of building their people. They must focus on the key competencies in alignment with the strategic long-term intent of the organization. The leaders should tap into the wisdom of the team to generate ideas by focusing bothon short and long term. They must listen louder to the team’s views and communicate the strategic direction of the organization. They should create a comfortable environment for people to question the status-quo.

SRQ – Strategic Road Map Quotient:

The leader needs to lay the roadmap to achieve the long-term strategic goals. It is about not only the roadmap, but the major challenge lies in planning and executing them.They need to be clear about the vision and the mission of the organization. The leader needs to communicate the same to the people and create a collaborative environment to execute the plan and achieve the vision and the mission. They need to forecast the future and proactively be ready to handle the obstacles.

Finally. If you are the captain of the ship sailing smoothly, you should be prepared to face the storm, thunder and the rough seas and be able to guide the ship to its destination along with the team. The strategic journey is full of learning with failure and success. For a strategic leader the learning never stops…

The author – Ashfaq Khan Ghori is Consultant with Centre for Behavioral Excellence, Talent Transformation at Wipro Limited

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are mine and my employer does not subscribe to the substance or veracity of my views

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