Creating Sense of Urgency

Yesterday a friend of mine has marked me a copy of email that was sent to his client urging him to take some action soon on some important issue. This triggered this blog.

By now I would have interacted with more than 100 business owners, mostly of small and medium sized business. Most of them wish a leaping business growth and they actively search for ways to do so. But they feel that something or the other hinders their growth. The usual reasons attributed to their stunted growth are recession, competition, price/availability of raw materials, hostile market conditions, unenthusiastic employees, unfriendly Government policies etc. Rarely do they agree that their business fundamentals are to be changed, their leading posture to be changed. They are just blind to 'the obvious' that need to be changed within themselves and with the business. One such is the lack of urgency on business matters.

The business owners often see lack of enthusiasm / commitment or lack of urgency among their employees, but are not aware of their own urgency habits. Once, this issue of 'sense of urgency' popped up in a discussion with a reputed business owner, who claimed that he always has this. When discussed about it at deeper levels, it was found that most of his time was spent on the 'crises of the moment' and not on the growing the business. A little discovery on one's own time management made him realize something profound ... Doing more things faster and attending to more urgent matters is not as good as doing the right things. The right thing is to work for the growth of the business..." this rarely happens" admitted the business owner. It points out that, Sense of urgency should be built around important and the right things.

It is observed that, most of the business owners are passive, they want work to come to them in the form of urgent matters. But the successful business owners somehow manage the urgent matters and find time to act on the matters of growing the business. This is the crucial difference. Acting upon is not passive , it requires, will - commitment- action.

Sense of urgency is an organisational ingredient, that is perceived by others very subtly. It may be expressed in verbal as well as non verbal ways. People perceive sense of urgency at a subliminal levels.

Once clear understanding of the business is gained, it should be implemented as early as possible. In order to make people implement the strategy quickly, the business owner must display some urgency or else the people associated with the business become complacent.

Other people assess the urgency of the business owner through various windows. please note that no employee would exceed the urgency of the business owner. "the speed of the train is going to the speed of the engine". Hence the business oner must learn ways to display the urgency appropriately.

Here are some ways you can try. These were collected from observations and other knowledge repositories.

• show priority and hurriedness at key business aspects
• Respond faster to emails and phone calls
• Do not allow the discussions to drift, get to the point quickly
• Take decisions. Do not delay decisions unnecessarily. Some business owners think that delaying decisions will improve the quality of decision or their position. As the old adage goes, “it is easier to steer a moving object.” If you’ve made the wrong decision, you can adjust. But if you wait too long, you miss the opportunity entirely.
• Follow... Do it now...... policy
• Do not work faster, but move the work faster

Creating sense of urgency simply is helping others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately. You can do anything that you feel is right for the moment.

Yesterday, I tried to get connected to a business owner to discuss an important matter. For more than two hours, his mobile phone was engaged and I got the connection after trying 20th time. While talking I passed a comment that" you seem to be very busy, sir. Not able to get your number for long time". He admitted that he had attended several calls in this two hours and in low voice he said that most of the calls were not much significant. He even admitted that our call is more important, and he was waiting to some how finish off the earlier calls............." Fair enough! he is at least aware of what is important and not so important for business.

This is my last blog of this year. wish You all a Happy New Year 2011.

contributed by Sasikanth Prabhu

Power of story / tale / fable ......

In the present day , high tech world, mostly we neglect this simple tool.... a story or a tale or a fable or anything that helps to connect with the people..... But many successful people are using and have understood the value of story.

This tool is simple to use but gives very powerful results in business. But it is used lesser than the complicated analysis charts, presentations, esoteric statistical measures and the like. Once upon a time I was using complex models/ concepts, number spinning /crunching slides profusely, considering them as the hall mark of professionalism. Often I felt inside me that I am doing so, to my own gratification than making some value to the audience. In such presentations, I found audience quickly switch to their own private / social worlds. But this practice is long abandoned by me and now I use more animated stuff than the techie ones. The results are amazing.

Now my presentations are going good for short speech or for hours without any disconnect with the audience. The secret is story telling.....

Recently, I was invited to present my services to a set of stakeholders of a cluster development project. I was alloted the slot just before the lunch break and I have only 30 mins to make the pitch. But the persons before me have used more time than the quota alloted to them and we are at least 25 minutes beyond the scheduled lunch. I could see the Organizers are a bit embarassed, audience often looking at their watches to check whether the time neared the lunch break, they feigned polite interest in the topic presented and when I was introduced, there was a look of "Oh yet another one" on their face. Quickly sensing this, I kept aside the structured presentation and I told about my services using 3 metaphors - RDX (Research and Development explosives), Pick pocketing / looting and the DNA. It took me hardly ten minutes to convey my matter, but these metaphors took a fair share of the luncheon conversations. Some of the participants still call and remember me with reference to the metaphors.

Of course i have not mastered it but began to use it productively.... looking forward to learn more.....

Mr. Puneet Bhatnagar of Pune, offers a workshop on "story telling " He considers himself to be a born story teller. for further details of him you may visit www.thecreativitymission.com

looking forward for a chance to attend his workshop.

Story is very valuable!

A Story ...

.... makes a serious, confusing and threatening topic into a interesting and approachable one

.... stimulates thought

.... makes the content and experience memorable

.... teaches durable lessons

.... inspires and motivates anyone: children, youth, men-women, educated - uneducated, old...all people

wish you all to be story tellers!

contributed by Sasikanth R Prabhu

Any business team always can win

Just now Common Wealth Games (CWG) in India is finished and there were some excellent competition among teams.

The two test matches between India and Australia were too excellent and India emerged the winner.

In sports, teams engage in a fierce competition and one team usually wins the game and there are one or more losers. The winning and performance in sports give thrills to the spectators, organisers and to the players. In the end one team feel elated by their win and the losers feel depressed.

The team- work in sports is a coordinated activity of individuals to reach the desired goal / performance. Because of the amazing effect the group of people in sports and games bring to the performance and results, the metaphor of team is borrowed to the business / organisational context too.

But it is to be noted that the metaphor of team has different connotations. In war and sports the team is meant to win over the opponent. There is always an opponent to be subdued.

But in business it is not so. A win-win outcome can always be crafted. But we are illusioned to think that in business too we need to pursue a win-lose end. In actuality it is a win-win game. This is the most simple but significant distinction between a business team and other teams. Business is more a cooperation / win-win game

Business is about creation of wealth or creation of value. And a team is required to achieve this goal. An apparent competition exists among the similar business organisations in capturing the value from the limited set of customers, which is called market. Every organisation wants to gain maximum / more from the defined market than the other players. In that race a fierce competition is seen. But if you observe everybody gains from the market and, some organisations gain relatively more.

Business is a positive sum game, (not a zero sum game or a negative sum game as in sports). The teams are meant always to win and all players can also be winners.

There are certain principles to be followed in business. By adopting them any team can win

Wishing all a business win.

Contributed by Sasikanth R Prabhu

Remembering C K Prahlad

full name : Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad

native town : Coimbatore , Tamilnadu, India

Higher education: University of Madras (Physics)

First Work experience: Branch Manager Union Carbide (Battery Division)

Doctorate: Harvard university

Faculty position : University of Michigan's Business School, Ann Arbor

Intellectual Partner: Gary Hamel

Results of partnership: The book 'Competing for the Future (1994)'

other books :

The Future of Competition (2004)

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (2004)

His own words: the world's poor (the 'bottom of the pyramid') as a potential untapped market for companies, worth anything up to $13 trillion a year. "The real source of market promise is not the wealthy few in the developing world, or even the emerging middle-income consumers. It is the billions of aspiring poor who are joining the market economy for the first time" he explains. A market at the bottom of the pyramid could be co-created by multi-national and domestic industry, non-governmental organisations and, most importantly, the poor themselves. They would then have choice over their lives and the products they use.

His vision for India : India @ 75 http://www.indiaat75.in/about.asp

Awards from india : Lal Bahadur Shastri award for Excellence in Management (2000),

Padma Bhushan (2009)

offering tribute to this great academician, thinker and strategist. three profound concepts come to my mind, contributed by him: Core competence | Bottom of the Pyramid | Co-creation

his vision shall live for decades

you can listen to C K Prahlad here......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03bHlsunYe8&feature=player_embedded

contributed by sasikanth prabhu

Mentoring Redefined

What next after learning. World has identified mentoring and coaching as successor to learning. Indian history however is replete with examples of mentor – mentoree relationship. If we start from understanding Eklavya – Drona, to Upmanyu and Maharshi…, to Gandhiji and the three monkey symbol everyone signifies a befitting mentor-mentoree relationship.
So what is mentoring. To start understanding, we should look into above relationships. There exists a role model, a person interested in role model, the role model himself inactive in contributing physical development of given person and we have perfect mentor-mentoree relationship.
Again, mentor is essentially a good thinker and mentoree interprets. Mentoree picks up the signal and interpret it in his own way.
If we extend this line of thinking, Karl Marx would qualify as mentor for communism where in possibly he himself might not have practiced communism, it is the mentoree (here leadership of a country or a large part of world), who took the cue and interpreted it in its own way. This is one mentor-multiple mentoree situation.
For Example collective US thinking is mentor, and the rest of the world as mentoree. Now the interpretation of mentoree for the given mentor is different. The mentor here throws some thought, jargons and world tries to understand, internalise and adopt it. The ones who are reactive to it are interpreting it differently but that does not cede the mentor position of U.S., that is thinkers – OF THE WORLD. This should qualify for multiple mentor-multiple mentoree relationship. But once they themselves self profess to be mentors and try to dominate the thought process they cede to be called mentors.
Mentoring is a happening phenomenon and not a doing phenomenon. There have been forms of mentoring exercises in companies and as consultancies but truly speaking mentoring is just not possible. There are cases when a person assumes role of grooming, training, transforming another person but these do not amount to mentoring.
So equivalent to learning, a mentoree has to be interested person and have drive to interpret the deeds, saying and vision of mentor to develop himself.
It is at best judicious form of learning from focussed source. The mentoree has the right to choose right appropriate mentor.
In mentoring a person unknowingly help someone (mentoree), having no agenda of his own, with his personal, professional or career development.
In school days, a teacher has some influence on student. If this influence continues even after schooling to various other walks of like, the teacher graduates to a mentor. Here, student (mentoree) takes the cue from the life style and thinking of teacher and then transforms himself accordingly. Thus mentor-mentoree relationship is outcome of years of exchange and trust build-up. Any shortcut is unpalatable.
Mentoring is indirect learning. Mentor can never be a mentor if he guides explicitly to the mentoree. Mentor’s job is to think and present his viewpoint. The interpretation is solely mentoree’s. If the two discuss together to refine the thought process or develop understanding the mentor-mentoree relationship is over, it then forms discussion group, guide, coach, etc.
Essentially, it is the ownership which is of prime importance. The ideas of both mentor and mentoree are original and fully owned by themselves.
Going by transactional analysis, mentoring is adult-adult relationship. Any other transactional state would qualify for something else.
The crux of success of such an indirect, passive relationship lies only in OK-OK position of both mentor and mentoree.
So a person may be christened mentor only after another person (mentoree) experience or feels OK by the mentor thought process and aligns himself accordingly. So, mentoring is one relationship which is the outcome of a process and does not lead to initiation of a process. Any process after establishing this relationship should not be qualified as mentoring relationship.
The world will be at loss in defining such abstract phenomenon. Because as per the above paragraphs mentoring ceases once it is established. So for a mentoree mentor should be changing with time.
A mentor in given time cannot hold mentor status
1. After being understood as mentor,
2. Ceases to remain mentor once it dominates thinking pattern of mentoree instead of vitalizing it,
3. Does not add value indirectly to mentoree, direct value addition would be termed anything else, not mentoring.
Mentoring and guiding is different from each other…
To learn from a mentoring is abstract form of learning wherein a person matures into learning from directly available sources of books and other hardware, to judicious interpretation of deeds and saying of mentor he has so appointed (It may be mock monkey statue as earlier stated). A person may refine himself by being in touch with mentor. But mentor never states things or does anything for the sake of mentoree.
Mentoring is then in essence a more matured form of learning from observing and believing. It therefore is superior to learning from indirect sources of learning like books, videos, etc. Moreso, it’s the perception of an individual which is more important because two different person from the same role model (Mentor) may learn two diametrically things altogether.
A case in point: the role model played by our film heroes motivate some children and even grown-ups to go for violence, crime-ideas, womanising, boozing or some form of malpractices. Can it be called mentoring relationship? I feel no, because here the mentoree is not thinking, and interpreting with his understanding..…
Again, even if two person are in regular contact with each other, mentor-mentoree relationship may exist, the pre-requisite remaining indirect influence of mentor on mentoree to ignite thinking in mentoree as well.
There has been a discussion on how to manage such a relationship. West has designed programmes and methodology.

The experiments in west on mentoring dwells upon mentoring arena.
Accordingly, a mentoring arena is the space that is established each time we agree to mentor somebody: the space in which a mentoring transaction takes place. The distinction between arena and transaction is because there are many different kinds of mentoring transaction: sometimes we give advice, some-times we coach, sometimes we just listen, sometimes we give feedback, sometimes we challenge, sometimes we counsel. Each of these specific transactions can legitimately occur in the mentoring arena. A mentoring relationship allows this arena to become more clearly defined, to develop and to mature.
of betterment of mentoree, its mentoree’s capability to extract best out of mentor. The professional relationship which is touted is at best not mentoring and at worst is brain washing (?).
On the other hand a person like Smt. M. Padmanabhan, who I have never met is a role model for running a school, more in handling of children in Montessori classes. The effect has come from stories which goes round like her presence during children alighting from bus, banning slapping and canning in school, doing rounds in kitchen and above all being friendly with children. Today she is mentor to all her children who call her BIG MADAM and probably manifest her deeds in many forms in their life.


contributed by Yogesh Jain

Significance of Informal learning

For most people, at least the formal learning path ends with a degree, a post graduate degree or a doctorate from a reputed institution. Only people in the academic or core research institutions pursue formal learning further to highest degree attained. There are millions and millions of job holders who often may not be able to pursue formal education once they enter the work world. They will have jobs lined one after the other and genuinely there is no scope for them to go back to school and learn further. But Alvin Toffler made a prophecy that the literate of the 21^st century is one who can learn, unlearn and relearn.

The modern day work environment demands learning on day today basis. The job holders need to develop the skill of informal learning.

More than 70% of the learning experiences in the workplace are informal or accidental in a work place. Most often these learnings are not sponsored by the HR Department or the employer. Informal learning is continuous, holistic, effective and transferable, arising from daily events at work place. Informal learning emerges from the spontaneity and serendipity of interactions with men or machines. It happens everywhere, in a shop floor, in a meeting, in a laboratory, in the field with the customers or even while working alone.

Research by a consulting company indicate that more than 60 percent of the total learning by a job holder come from on the job experience and the social interaction with the co-workers.

Then why are we not valuing it or even acknowledging it (informal learning)?

Perhaps there is paradox: informal learning cannot be scheduled or planned but it occurs. All we need to do is acknowledge its presence, value the learner, liberate the organizational processes from red tapism, promote and nurture a learning culture, encourage informal social dialogues (fertile dialogues among job holders etc.

The job holders will find it very interesting if informal learning is captured and rewarded. Informal learning will increase job holder confidence, enthusiasm, feeling of security, personal growth, a sense of community, and rewarding relationships. Are there any better reasons needed to initiate informal learning in all?

Contributed by Sasikanth R Prabhu

Why do customers stop doing business with a firm / company?

Often the business owners / managers feel that the customer’s primary criteria to stop buying a product or hiring a service are its price. Again and again, the experience and research studies indicate that a customer abandons a product, service or a company not because of the price; it is because their needs are not met and also their needs are dealt with indifferently.

A decade back one McKinsey Quarterly reported the reasons industrial companies (B2B), lose their customers. According to their study the reasons customer s leave in a B2B situation are ….

Indifference to the customer’s need - 68%

Product dissatisfaction – 14%

Price – 9%

Development of new relationships elsewhere – 5%

Relocation – 3%

Death of a Key individual – 1%

In a B2C situation too this pattern seems to be followed.

Yesterday, my friend reported an experience at a factory outlet of branded shirts / men’s apparels. Many popular and premium brands of shirts and men’s apparel are available here at a discount price. A young man and women, of about same age say around 21 years, came at a time when the show roo is scheduled to be closed. As soon as they came in, one of the floor representative told them it is about to be closed and it is not possible to buy anything today. The boy said he is about to attend an interview next day and need some formals. Now the floor manager stepped in and confirmed that the shop will be closed at exactly at the scheduled time and they do not have time for searching for the product and do the billing formalities. The customer boy humbly requested again to allow them to choose an apparel. Now the shopkeepers got really irritated and waived him to go off. The boy then asked from where else he will get the apparel in the vicinity. They frowned and said bluntly they do not know.

The young pair walked out disappointed from this ornately merchandised, adequately human resources, optimally promoted shop. What is the use of investing so much and not being able to treat a prospective customer with care?

If this happened to you, will you visit such a shop again?

Mostly, this is how customers are lost.

contributed by Sasikanth Prabhu

Listening to a Professor from IIM, A

I had an invitation to attend a dinner meet with a professor from IIM, Ahmedabad, organised by CBRC (Centre For Business Research and Counseling) at Kochi on 26th January 2010. He has about 25 years of experience in management education, but looks younger in spirit and in body. One of the dinner participant mentioned an observation that rarely the Professor's elder family members have grey hair.

It has been a great experience listening to the unfiltered and authentic dialog with the Professor. We the small gathering from CBRC were immersed in the discourse by the Prof. for almost two hours.

The Professor highlighted the themes of value creation and the importance of intellectual capital in a B School. According to the Prof. every B school must differentiate itself from others through the demonstration of their unique intellectual capital. He suggested a B School must build intellectual capital by taking up sponsored research projects from governments, Industries and other funding agencies, by providing Executive / Management development programs and by doing consulting projects with the industry. A B school should be a sequel to these activities. He informed us that IIM, A was fully engaged in Executive development programs before starting the Post Graduate Program.

He said one of the key aspect of education at IIM, A is that the students are put to such experiences so as to develop independent thinking and ability to bring new perspectives to the issues under consideration. He confidently said that any student who attend the PGP at IIM, A will achieve this state by the end of first year.

By interacting with Professor, we were all able to experience a slice of stimulating life at IIM, A. It was a very engaging and fruitful evening. Thanks to the Professor for spending time with us.

contributed by: sasikanth prabhu

Offering service and creating an experience

Is offering service and creating experience to a customer same?

It is very difficult to articulate the difference. It is very difficult to convince a scholastic person and to explain to a business owner the difference between these two.

Mostly, the B school erudition treats the service and experience offering as same. The B school scholars may prove it with their entire intellectual bulk that experience is all service and experience is created by service.

Yet there is difference in subtle way. The difference is felt in our hearts and I am struggling to find ways to explain it.

Once the difference is felt by the business owners and if the focus is shifted from just service orientation to experience orientation, the structure of business and organisation will qualitatively and quantitatively change.

contributed by: sasikanth prabhu

Experience with Alappuzha BDS (2009 -2010)

My association with Alappuzha BDS project of DFID – SIDBI, being implemented by Cluster Pulse began from November 2008 with a presentation to the Cluster manager Mr. Pankaj Ahir. I presented about our Business strategy workshops and the ‘Chai Board’ to the organisation. A patient listening was provided to the presentation by Mr. Pankaj and I had been asked to register Marg Atreya using a standard form with details of contact and the services offered. It seemed at first our services were not understood fully by Alappuzha MSME’s but I was kept informed about the planned activities and the schedules of the forthcoming events of Alappuzha BDS project.

In March 09’ I was given an opportunity to present our services to a group of 100 MSME’s from coir industry. The presentation time allocated to us was at the end of an award distribution session on ‘Best design award’. We presented our services. After seeing the event, we felt that Alappuzha BDs is doing quite a lot of good work for the Coir Cluster and many of the beneficiaries the Coir companies are feeling grateful about their presence. Also, we had noticed that the programs/events coordinated by them had an energizing effect on the audience.

From May 2009, our interaction with Alappuzha BDS project deepened and a program called “Management Gyaanam 09’ for the co operative societies was planned and conducted in June 2009 at ACCDS premises.

Prior to conducting the six day “Management Gyaanam 09’ we had a session with the representatives of the co op societies to understand their challenges. We were able to shortlist about twenty challenges faced by them. The most acute challenge was that they had very less business orientation, which prevented them from becoming self reliant and always dependent on the government support.

Hence, the main objective of the workshop was to give business orientation to the co-operative societies and raise their awareness about the day-to-day management aspects. The program was a challenge to us, as we had to deal with grass root people/ organizations.

On the scheduled day the honorable Secretary of ACCDS Mr. Kumaraswamy Pillai inaugurated the program. As we delivered the program, we were amazed to see the enthusiasm and the eagerness of the participants. In the first day itself business orientation was implanted in the minds of the participants and they picked up the key concepts of the business and the daily management. We also announced a ‘best participant award’ for the program. The six days went like a bullet and on every passing day we were able to see a glow of confidence in their faces. Immediately after the six day program Alappuzha BDS project organized a session to confer the ‘best participant award’. Special invitees, the participants, SIDBI officials, the Alappuzha BDS project team and of course we as BDS providers were present for this evening program. The participants were given a chance to share their experiences of the program. At least five participants shared their experience, which made us feel that we have created value at the grass root level. There is nothing greater than the feeling that we were able to add value to somebody else’s life. In the process we also learned that we can do something significant for the grass root level too. Our credo “every person can be business person’ and “every ordinary person can do extraordinarily” is strengthened.

Similarly, Alappuzha BDS project arranged a meeting with a very old coir company which has a corporate set up. We did a two-day in house workshop for their CEO’s & staff. We were able to rekindle and rejuvenate the fundamental elements of their business that gave them confidence that they can win in the market and elsewhere. Their written & verbal appreciation for our services gives multiplier effect to our confidence. We feel fulfilled that our methodologies are effective in bringing instant learning and sustainable effect. This company very soon brought into the market their branded products.

We provided our services to other organisations in the coir sector that helped them to revive their business.

The one-to-one meetings, the short service presentations, the banner promotion, field visits in BDS van, the voucher schemes, BDS training and the special programs arranged by Alappuzha BDS project creates a confidence in the minds of MSMEs and creates an opportunity for BDS providers to interact with the MSMEs openly in co ordination with trade associations which will carry on these activities in future for sustainability.

Now we are in a position to independently approach and present our innovative services to the MSMEs, state govt. & trade associations of coir cluster and also we feel that the coir companies are accepting the services by the BDS providers more openly. All the credit goes to the work of Alappuzha BDS project.

Contributed by : Sasikanth Prabhu,Consultant / Facilitator

Business Definition

We have been using the question “What is your business” in our strategy workshops. We have been feeling that this is a very important question to be answered before we make strategy. But many times we have experienced that our clients wish to hurry to look for ways to improve their current operations than spend some time reflecting on this question and answering it genuinely. We feel in our heart that this is an important question to be answered before we renew the strategy. When clients show hurriedness in looking for ways to generate profits, we mercilessly try to bring them back to this question and do not allow taking forward our interaction to other business issues. Of course, our client seemingly feels irritated and sometimes we doubt ourselves having obsessed with this question.

But we feel now consoled when we read the breakthrough article by Theodore Levitt “Marketing Myopia” (1960). The main theme of this article was the question we ask our clients. The question introduced by Theodore Levitt was ‘What business are you really in?’. He says in the article those who define their business incorrectly are bound to stagnate in the market until they correct it. Also he suggests in the article a shift from product orientation to customer orientation will determine the winning position.

We feel encouraged that we belong to the school of this great thought leader. The importance of our question”what is your business?” is strengthened in our scheme.