Make in India… organizations need creative leadership.

Modi government has declared the “Make In India” initiative to attract the FDI in India. This is another way to create the manufacturing base in India. When the manufacturing base is increased,  lot of dependent business start flourishing, employment is generated and it helps economy to develop as spending power of consumer also increases. However this task is not easy.

Is it just making products in India or developing products with global quality? Question still remains unsolved. This question is because, there are no inventions happened in India for last few decades. However we trumpet the old saga of inventions. We call ourselves creative and innovative, but we never think about the future. There are very few innovative ideas which goes in commercialization and end without any results, because these ideas are based on “Jugad” which really is shortcut to get the results.

There are few successes which are copied by others for failures. Just see how many e-commerce companies are there around.   

The question still remains unresolved because we hardly think innovation and creativity. Students are not allowed in schools think beyond their books. Organizations propagate creativity and innovations but doesn’t give the freedom to think differently. They give the “boundary lines” and employees are expected to think within that “boundary lines.” There are innovation, R&D labs, but I doubt how much new inventions happened in those labs. These are put for branding and getting tax benefits. There are consultants who work for you to get such exemptions. With this all, if any company is really series about innovations, they mislay the focus after 3 -4 years when they don’t get expected results in spite of huge costs.

There is another problem which is related to creative leadership. Leaders need to think differently but they also need to be creative. As creativity is the catalyst for innovation, leaders who wish to promote innovation must embody creativity and create an environment that stimulates people to be more creative and innovative.

There are two approaches to creative leadership:

• To develop a creative approach to problem solving,
• To create a culture of creativity and innovation,

Creativity, however, cannot be left to chance. Much like learning any new skill, leaders need to develop or enhance their creativity skills by learning and trying on new behaviors, and putting those into practice.

I think, we need to take it next level where we don’t only sit on computer and work on simulations, developing some grades in the products or working only on analysis on the innovations which actually is happening somewhere in US or Europe.  

Creativity is contagious. Organizations need leaders who can fire up the imagination of people and create a vibrant work environment, so that people willingly contribute and come up with out of the box solutions. 

Information Please

When he was quite young, his father had one of the first telephones in his neighborhood. He remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. He was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when his mother used to talk to it. 

Then he discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person - her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know. "Information Please" could supply anybody's number and the correct time. His first personal experience with this genie-in the-bottle came one day while his mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing  at the tool bench in the basement, he whacked his finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. He walked around the house sucking throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway.

The telephone! Quickly, he ran for the foot stool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, he unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to his ear. "Information Please," he said into the mouthpiece just above his head. 

A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into his ear.

"Information"

"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that he had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's home but me." he blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked.

"No," he replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open your icebox from your freeze?" she asked. He said he could. 

"Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.

After that, he called "Information Please" for everything. He asked her for help with his geography and she told him where Nagpur was. She helped him with his math. 

Then, there was the time, his pet duffy died, he called "Information Please" and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But he was unconsoled. he asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"

She must have sensed his deep concern, for she said quietly, "Shonu, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow he felt better.

Another day he was on the telephone. "Information Please."

"Information," said the now familiar voice.

"How do you spell fix?" he asked.

All this took place in a small town in Maharashtra. When he was 9 years old, he, along with his parents moved another city. He missed his friend very much.

"Information Please" belonged in that old wooden box back home, and he somehow never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall.

As he grew into his teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left him. Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity he would recall the serene sense of security he had then. He appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.

A few years later, he realized that he should call Information Please" just to say thanks for what she did for him. He dialed his hometown operator and said, "Information, Please." Miraculously, he heard the small, clear voice he knew so well, "Information."

He hadn't planned this but he heard saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?"

There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."

He laughed. "So it's really still you," he said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time."

"I wonder", she said, "if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls." He told her how often he had thought of her over the years and he asked if he could call her again.

"Please do," she said. "Just ask for Sarita."

Three months later he again called. A different voice answered "Information."

He asked for Sarita.

"Are you a friend?" She said.

"Yes, a very old friend," he answered.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, she said. Sarita had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."

Before he could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Shonu?"

"Yes."

"Well, Sarita left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called.

Let me read it to you." The note said, "Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean."

He thanked her and hung up. He knew what Sarita meant.

* Adapted & Anonymous

InReGo ©: Design your own career plan…

Career development is the buzz word in corporate world. Employees leave an organization because they think that they don’t have the right career in the organization.  HR professionals have the struggle in designing career path and match aspirations of employees. However the issue is still vivacious in HR world.

At the other side, employees don't have the right perspective on career development. I have seen employees who leave the organization for the sake of career development, end up just receiving the title change without any role change in next organization. S/he gets the upgraded title without any upgraded role. Sometimes for them tile change is also a career development which is not the real case.    

Let’s see what actually these terms means:

Career is the series of work-related positions a person occupies through life.

Career Paths represent employees’ movements through opportunities over time.

However employees should understand what actually career means for them.  Manager and HR professional need to educate employees and facilitate their real aspirations instead of mere focusing title up-gradation. 

Organization-Centered Career Planning focuses on jobs and on identifying career paths that provide for the logical progression of people between jobs in the organization.

Individual-Centered Career Planning focuses on an individual’s career rather than in organizational needs.

There will be always mismatch between above two.

Before speaking and expecting about career development, employees should focus on their own inclination and their focus in the career which always is missing initially.

There is a test called InReGo© -(©Vinod Bidwaik)

What is InReGo ©?

Everybody can design their own career path!

(In) Insight: Do you have the insight about yourself? Have you done analysis thoroughly what is your potential and at what level you can climb?

(Re) Reality Check: Most of the time, employee does not check the reality. Dreaming is good, but day dreaming is bad. Have you done the reality check about your potential, your qualification, skill sets?

(Go) Goal: Once you have the insight and reality check, it is the time to set right career goals. Set ambitious but realistic goals. During interviews, candidate always mention their career goals like to be the General Manager of the unit etc. Nothing wrong, but when 3 years experienced candidate dreams to be the general manager, I have the doubts if S/he has done the reality check.

Based on the InReGo © decide your career choice assessed on your Insight, Interest, Self-Image and your Background.

You will be more happy with this approach rather than just following the blind competition of career development and your peer pressure.

You can design your own career…don’t rely only on your organization…

BSC (Balanced Scorecard) Simplified....

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First Time in History, BSC (Balanced Scorecard) Simplified....But still hard to implement....

F

irst thing first,  BSC means aligning every employee towards organizational goals and it starts with vision, mission and strategy of the organization. This is not short term initiative but should be focused long term and beyond the vision. 

Elements of strategy,

• Ambition of the organization,
• Arena of operations,
• Products,
• How are you going to differentiate your products?
• How you will operate : alliance , JV  or on your own.

Once the strategy is aligned how are you going to make the strategic map...

You need to make the strategic map of the organization and then deploy the policy...with fixed accountabilities. Be aware that if you do not have the clear vision and strategy and subsequent strategic map BSC has no sense.

Now what is balanced in BSC?

Once the strategic map is ready,  it is converting functional strategic map and then targets....

If you have a five year horizon...what you want to achieve?

Translate it into short term goals...

Based on four perspective

• Customer
• Operational
• Financial
• And people...

So what is balanced in Balance Scorecard?

• Short term VS long term,
• Strategic map vs tactical planning and implementation,
• Four perspective takes care of whole organizational context.

Based on this once you converted all this in matrix called organizational scorecard and then functional scorecard....which can be assigned to individual employees as KRA and KPI.

Please remember to establish the monitoring system.

BSC fails because when there are some business turmoil. Owners gets panic instead of making changes in strategic plan.

Then it becomes just KRA sheet based on four perspective.

Today most of the organizations says that they have BSC but is just KRA sheet based on 4 perspective without long term strategy, map and key drivers. It is not at all BSC.

Implementation : Let's take step by step

1. Study of the market, key driver for growth are find out and based on that it is decided where the organization would like to go by 5 years 10 years etc.
2. What you would like be in the market and how?
3. Make a strategic intents. This is utmost imp phase.
4. Few questions should be asked like are we prepared for.
5. Are we  Serious?
6. Commitment of top in terms of strategic intents,
7.  Prepare complex strategic map,
8. Convert it into long term goals,
9. Convert it in short term targets,
10. Make organizational scorecard,
11. Prepare Functional scorecards,
12. Convert Scorecards into Individual targets,
13. Establish monitoring system

What is complete strategy?

·         It is sustainable,

·         It addresses the cross boundaries of functions,

·         It is linked with external environment,

Example: If you have strategy focused to 2020 and targets thereon, how HR can have its own strategy linked to the same. The assessment of the organization is for example you need Intrapreneural skillsets and there is a gap..

Then your HR strategic map should have this element.

This can be linked to other functions as well.

And then with this all you need to work on change management and handle this accordingly.

Review strategy periodically;

Stick to the commitment.

About reporting....you can have a dedicated business warehouse software...

However moreover from performance point of view...

You can have... proper review mechanism like

• Business performance review,
• Operation performance review etc....

The challenge is to extract the right data for discussion in these types of meeting.

It is better to automate high level data through SAP etc.

BSC is change management process.

Somebody senior Management Team member should take the responsibility of policy deployment leader...who also works as a change champion.  Sensitization is also required with right branding and communication associated with strong reward and consequence management policy.