Entry Barriers

When I was a MDP consultant at IBS Kochi, I had a chance to visit premises of more than 50 small, medium and large businesses. My job was to develop businesses for the intellectual capital of the faculty at IBS. My experiences during the visits to the prospective customers' premises made me feel that intellectual capital is the least wanted capital by them, but mostly needed. We found two situations in the customer’s premises: one is " business is doing well" and the other " business is not doing well". After visiting a score of prospects we found a pattern in their responses, mostly unfavourable ones.

Places where business is doing well the following behavior is found.....

 They....

·   Do not allow the new service providers to access the business leaders

·   Show ‘we-know-it-all’ attitude

·   are busy Expanding the organisation at a faster pace

·   Revenue growth and profit generation is equated with business growth

·   Give high priority to prestigious certifications and image building activities

·   Focus mostly on customers with high purchase power

·   Engage in creating entry barriers to the new comers / competitors

·   Look for business diversifications

·   Command and demand services from the vendors (supply chain)

 Places where business is not doing well the following behavior is found.....

 They....

·         engage in cost cutting measures

      ·         sell the products at thin margins

·         arrange programs to change the peoples’ behavior. The programs will be conducted by in house experts or by an outside agency that quotes the least.

·         take disconcerted marketing initiatives

·         spend more time in urgent and managerial issues

·         Search for certifications that will give them credibility in the market.

·         are hesitant to discontinue the unprofitable / failed product lines

contributed by Sasikanth Prabhu

Unconventional Learning Program

Today, one positive thing is that the top management has begun to recognize the promise of sustainable growth hinges on the human beings (the key people) and not the technology or finance. Their key people’s knowledge, understanding and learning are the organization’s sacred assets. When it comes to breathing life into strategic initiatives, the key people are the ones who hold the power.

Creating a “learning oriented organization” to fulfill the growth needs has proven to be devilishly difficult.

If we read through the media we find that, the quest for employee-driven business growth is reaching a near-feverish pitch. Many organizations are looking for programs that will guarantee people’s commitment and engagement in the organizations goal. Often, sought after programs are Certifications, Computer based learning, Soft skills training, Offsite simulation programs etc. We have even found that some companies are intoxicated in conducting such programs.
Recently we asked one of the business owner of a Rs.40 crore company owner (our client too), what role does he play in the organization primarily. He said he spends a lot of time in HR development, developing people skills and attitudes. He is of the opinion that only if people’s attitude change he can go for business expansion / growth.

Sure, such programs are sexy and create a surge in the enthusiasm of the participants. But they are, after all, merely tools that offer no magic on their own. In factual terms, they do not seem to generate knowledge, commitment or enthusiasm in a sustainable way. For getting employees’ commitment and application of their skills the top management needs to begin the process elsewhere.

The challenge, here, is not “how do we get employees to learn.” Rather, it is “how do we create a situation in which they can use their own powerful and innate abilities to apply.” Notice the important difference between the two orientations. Organizational training ceases to be something we “do to” employees.

Instead, facilitators become triggers of a latent, collective power that may be harnessed and directed towards our organization’s shared goals and aspirations. The equation is simple. To unlock the power of widespread transformation, simply embrace some new assumptions. Immerse learners in experience. Welcome mistakes. Discover what works. Apply it to reality.

Though this later method of promoting learning in the organization is effective and invaluable, but the challenge is…. this service of learning facilitation is difficult to sell and it doesn’t have the boundaries and content structure of the other learning tools. The decision maker himself needs to be a learner and go beyond his/ her own thresholds of fear to subscribe for this method.

It is worth taking the risk…. The outcomes are unpredictable but valuable sustainably.

contributed by Sasikanth Prabhu