PURPOSE & IMPACT

Category: Organization (page 3 of 3)

Leading the World – Food for Thought for Corporate Leaders in India

As someone following the world of leadership, human capital and organization development discussions, I could not resist sharing some observations and food for thinking for corporate and business leaders in India.  The following themes appeared to me across conversations and experiences during my time in India.  There are of course many exceptions but one would need to openly challenge some notions, if more Indian companies and leaders aspire to be relevant in today’s connected world and tap into the high promise potential of our younger generations.

1. The Big Picture

The popular expression, ‘Seeing the trees and not the forest’ seems to be a major area for many leaders to reflect on.

There seems to be a general tendency to focus heavily on the details and costs, without sufficient emphasis on critical strategic leadership elements like value creation, organizational alignment and stakeholder engagement.  While the technical aspects and analytical skills seem to be an area of strength, it is important to remember that as leaders of organizations, your mandate is much bigger. It may be comfortable to focus on tasks and activities that are more tangible in nature (‘comfort zone’) than those like discovering new business directions, making strategic choices or understanding the emotional quotient in your organisation. Organisations should indeed be efficient bodies with improving process and cost management – yet the need for finding new directions, being agile, adapting in a constantly shifting world in a sustainable manner, and the ability to ‘connect the dots’ is critical.  An important example of a real time topic is the recent discussion around the future of India’s IT sector and how companies need to evolve and flourish in a shifting environment. Communication, language skills and influencing across stakeholders can be challenging, yet critical. Cross cultural awareness and openness especially for companies and leaders expanding across the world is fundamental for success.

In his latest book ‘Focus’, Daniel Goleman notes that for leaders to get results, they need three kinds of focus – Inner focus (our intuitions, guiding values), Other focus (connections to the people in our lives) and Outer focus (larger world).

2. Understanding and Realising the Power of Human Capital.

How many leaders see high value in investing in a product or physical assets vs. investing in talented people? Are investments on talent management, human capital or leadership development seen with similar importance and bottom line impact (starting with the self)?  Who creates great products, services, strategies or innovations in organisations, and what leads to those creations?  What is the amount of discretionary effort that an individual has and can stretch in any effort? Seeing the golden link between business results and highly effective employee practices are fundamental to sustainable success.

A lack of concerted development effort results in a vicious cycle for an organization – eg. lack of investment in leadership development results in lack of quality thinking, reflection and improvement of leadership effectiveness at an individual and organizational level.  I’ve heard from few leaders that they’re so busy running that they don’t have time to stop and think. As a result, the focus tends to become narrow across the board (often unconscious).  The organization can help consciously provide that space.

For the non-believer, it might be worthwhile to think about the disruptions in many areas (especially technology) and generational shifts we have seen in recent times. One also could think about the Indians who have flourished in global environments like the U.S. and what the difference is.  Core factors like Certainty, Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose, Relatedness, Fairness (ref. David Rock/NeuroLeadership Group, Dan Pink) are relevant everywhere and should be actively adopted by leaders.

3. Challenging the status quo and changing traditional management approaches.

This is a major area for change and the need to change traditional management approaches to reflect today’s world is extremely high.  We still cling on to many approaches from previous century to manage organizations and workforces in 2014.  Even factors like restrictive hierarchies and mindsets haven’t shifted sufficiently to realize the potential of evolved knowledge work and potential.  As technologies turn the talent pyramid upside down for potential disruptions, a leader has to find a way to understand and truly tap into reframing one’s own mind map.  This does not mean that old ideas and philosophies become totally irrelevant.  Even institutions like Harvard are actively adopting and applying the age old wisdom of mindfulness and meditation to the business environment.

There seems to be a reluctance to empower and trust across the organization.  Some of this may stem from the historical, cultural and environmental /social aspects of heavy competition and conflict. As a leader, one needs to think how he or she can build true collaboration and change such a culture or value system to enable significant output.  Role modeling is fundamental and well-designed HR systems can be strong enablers.

4. Wellbeing, Effectiveness of self and others

Last but not least, many findings today relate to individual wellbeing, effectiveness and personal sustainability.  It is not uncommon to find young professionals in India who spend lots of overtime at work, ignore exercise and a healthy lifestyle.  Many leaders also today seem to be heavily distracted, over worked, juggling too many things while ignoring the options to engage/empower team members, and apply the same principles and role modeling to their direct reports. Multiple research studies show the negative impacts of continuous high stress on mental and physical health. Combined with these working habits, the lack of exercise and constant overtime at work leads to a tired brain in a constant ‘threat’ state and poor decisions.  Neuroscience studies indicate that a tired brain does not support innovation or fresh thinking.

As a leader, how would you rate yourself on curiosity, interest in learning and applying some of the recent studies/findings to your ways of working?  The leading consulting firm Korn Ferry found that ‘learning agility’ is a fundamental trait among successful leaders.

There is not much doubt that having high quality leaders and talent are fundamental success drivers for any organization or even a country.  The sooner a leader realizes it, the better for the system and the people in it. Leadership starts at the individual level (with self-awareness, management) and needs to be developed consciously at the systems level for truly high impact.

Leadership in government functions is probably a different discussion, with higher priority due to the scale and scope of impact on general public and seeming lack of current attention to the topic.

Institutions (especially Universities) and organizations also play a key role in leading the drive for influencing and changing practices at a systemic level, even beyond their own countries. There is probably a higher need to communicate that information and interact actively with individuals (eg. leading universities in the U.S. using social media to disseminate latest studies and discussions).

If you aspire to be a respected, world-class leader, I leave you with three final questions:

  1.  What Leadership Brand (ref. RBL Group) would you like to build for yourself?
  2.  What would you want your Leadership Legacy to be when you are not around?
  3.  If you’ve found one useful takeaway from this reading, what will you do about it next?

Curious and interested to hear your thoughts about this topic…

I wish you the very best on your journey.

Are You Building a Sustainable Organization?

Very Important for all leaders and boards to reflect on: Are you building sustainable organizations?

As the discussions focus on economic challenges, changes, unpredictable environments, global dynamics and impact on organizations:

  • How are the actions of leaders in your organization linked or measured with creating long term value and building organizations to last long term?
  • How are leaders measured on this dimension? What behaviors does that encourage?
  • How do boards and organizations find the right ratio in requiring leaders to create short term vs. long term value?

Importance of ‘Practice’ in Training Programs & Leadership Development – From ‘Primal Leadership’

Improving an emotional intelligence competence takes months, rather than days, because the emotional centers of the brain are involved-not just the neocortex, the thinking brain where technical skills & purely cognitive abilities are learned…But the basal ganglia & its links to the emotional centers learn differently: To master a new skill, they need repetition & practice. That’s why it’s hard to learn leadership abilities effectively in a classroom.

A teacher can’t instruct your brain circuits that carry old habits of leadership to relearn new habits. What’s needed is practice: The more often a behavioral sequence repeats, the stronger the underlying brain circuits become. People thereby literally rewire their brains: Learning new habits strengthens pathways between neurons, and may even foster neurogenesis-growth of new neurons.

Six Ways HR Leaders Can Become More Effective Business Partners (‘The Talent Masters’)

From the book, The Talent Masters by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan.

1. Understand your business and industry dynamics

  • Financials and key operating levers that affect your business

2. Build your HR vision and strategies around the business model

3. Become problem solvers versus problem identifiers

  • Remove issues from the plate instead of adding to the existing pile

4. Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously

  • Stay cool/provide a sense of balance and calm in the storm

5. Have the personal independence, self-confidence, and courage to push back or challenge the system when necessary

  • Don’t salute every command..But pick your spots.
  • Stay true to your personal values and convictions, those moments can make or break your career.

6. Never forget why you’re at the table

  • Obligation to balance strong business partnership role with employee advocacy role
  • People implications of decisions
  • Never forget the “human” in human resources

Airports & Our Travel

Airports are increasingly becoming relevant to millions of people around the world as air travel becomes more accessible and infrastructure development picks up. I remember doing a study on airport management during my engineering days.

For most travellers, airports create the first impression of a location. Having a world class airport makes a big difference to the image and branding of a city and country. I’ve had the opportunity to travel through few airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia. It is sometimes surprising how some important basic elements are not given adequate attention even in large international airports. I’m sure some of you would have felt related frustrations.

1. Crowd/Queue Management
As simple as this may sound, this is sometimes the most frustrating aspect for many travellers. Even in airports that have great infrastructure, this sometimes can be an issue. Basic training on this topic would be useful for airline/airport staff and immensely beneficial for travellers.

2. Seating availability
Sufficient and ergonomic seating availability should be among the most basic requirements but surprisingly many airports lack quality seating facilities.

3. Automated Walkways and Elevators
Large airports and transfers that result from one terminal to the next, and the trek between two gates far apart can be very tiring for many.

4. Screens and Information boards
This can sometimes be surprisingly confusing for even seasoned travelers. There’s got to be a better science of understanding how information for travellers is easily visible and understandable.

5. Airport Information Services
It is very useful to have direct customer service at the airports, to cater to the diverse groups of travellers who may not understand the language and services available. If one does not have enough time between connections as well, this is very helpful. Additionally, every airport should have a tourist information center with competent staff who should be able to address various questions about the city in multiple languages.

6. Spacing between baggage carousels and related information
The chaos around baggage carousels can be very frustrating. Information about the flights served should be conveyed through multiple large screens. Expected wait time for luggage arrival should be communicated to passengers – as the waiting times vary quite a bit. Quick, efficient and high quality lost baggage services should be present as these passengers can be expected to be impatient and frustrated.

7. Free wireless connectivity, Internet facilities and plug in ports
In today’s connected world, this should be a basic expectation.

8. Good restaurants with multiple dietary options

9. Public and other convenient transportation connections to the city 24×7
The planning should take into consideration various flight times and frequencies. Quality of service and interaction should be assessed rigorously.

As in most services, the competencies of individuals providing customer service can influence and contribute heavily to a traveller’s overall experience and perceptions about the local culture. Service quality and employee development should be assessed constantly with high expectations. An airport is a window to the city.

“The Talent Lie” – Three features of the corporate structure

The following notes are from an article by Ed Lawler in the “Strategy+Business” Summer 2008 issue – he discusses how organisations can walk their executives’ talk when it comes to the management of their talent. Many of these points have been discussed in the past by leading HR thought leaders like Dave Ulrich.

* The market value of most companies depend in large part on intangible assets, the most important being human capital.
* Many businesses need workers to perform complex work at a high level.
* Outstanding talent is scarce, and it can be a critical source of competitive advantage.
* When executives say people are important but the organization’s practices and structures do not reflect this view, the unspoken message seems to be contradictory.

Three features of any corporate structure that clearly show whether management truly believes in the importance of human capital:

1. Corporate Board
* The board of directors should have access to both the expertise and information needed to understand talent issues at all levels of the organization.
* A board should have atleast one member who has a sophisticated understanding of the research related to human resource management, organizational effectiveness, succession planning, and learning and development.
* Board members should receive regular information about the condition of an organization’s talent – and the way it develops and deploys that talent.
* It is particularly important that corporate boards spend time on succession planning for top-level management positions. The board should have up-to-date, in-depth knowledge of what executive talent is available and how well developed it is.
* Good analytic data showing how HR metrics relate to organizational performance should be present.

2. HR Department
* HR should contain some of the top talent in the company, along with the best information technology resources.
* HR should be a valued expert resource when it comes to strategy development, change management, organization design and talent management.
* The function should be staffed with individuals who understand the business – and the intricacies of human capital strategy and management systems.
* Strong HR analytics and a ‘decision science’ process should be adopted.

3. Information Systems
* To be effective, a human capital information system needs to track the contribution of people to the organization’s most critical and strategic objectives. It needs to measure the condition of the organization’s competencies and capabilities, especially those that are needed for superior performance.
* The HR department should have IT resources that will enable it to produce the kind of comprehensive, real-time quantitative data that can be used by leaders to make fact-based decisions about talent management.
* HR leaders should not just generate and analyze the data, they should apply it to the most critical decisions.

Source: “The Talent Lie” by Edward E. Lawler III, strategy+business, Issue 51 Summer 2008, Pg 38-42.

Thoughts on ‘Innovation’ from IDEO CEO, Tim Brown (source: McKinsey Quarterly)

Some really interesting thoughts related to ‘Innovation’ from the IDEO CEO, Tim Brown (Source: McKinsey Quarterly, November 2008).

1. All we do is try to have new ideas…

2. …focus completely and utterly on experimentation, on exploring ideas for the sake of exploring them, and on bringing unlikely people together to work.

3. …if we spend too much time focusing on doing our projects on time and on budget – running our kind of business well – then the ideas we generate aren’t as good.

4. Innovation is not a continuous activity; it’s a project-based activity.

5. It’s often the role of senior leadership to defend new ideas until they’re actually out in the marketplace and able to stand up for themselves.

6. The biggest barrier (to innovation) is needing to know the answer before you get started.

7. It’s better to have a bigger ecosystem for innovation than a smaller one. You’re going to get more ideas and increase the likelihood of better ideas.

8. …a competitive issue for nations in the future will be the ability of the general populace to generate and develop ideas.

9. Foundations and corporations are playing roles that they weren’t playing before in public services…there’s an opportunity both to improve the life experience of many, many people and to create quite a lot of economic benefit…

2008 “Borderless Workforce Survey” Results from Manpower

Noticed a recent interesting article titled “Beyond brain-drain” (June 24, 2008) on economist.com based on two surveys from Manpower – “Relocating for Work,” polled over 31,000 workers; and “Borderless Workforce,” surveyed 28,000 employers, each in 27 countries. Manpower’s Borderless Workforce Survey was released in June 2008 and is available for download on their website.

Interesting information worth noting:

* For foreign employees, America remains workers’ destination of choice, followed by Britain, Spain, Canada and Australia. The United Arab Emirates, particularly Dubai, is the top emerging economy on the list, in sixth place.

* 36.9% of workers surveyed said they would consider going anywhere in the world for good work. (This percentage of global workers open to moving was slightly surprising to me. I would’ve guessed a lower number.)
* Educated workers are more willing to relocate. Of those surveyed who had less than a high-school education, 62.2% were open to moving for a job, and 28.4% had actually done so. Among those with an undergraduate degree, that rose to 85% and 46.5%, and for those with a masters degree, to 87.4% and 60.7%.

* Main resons for individuals to relocate:
1. Increased Pay
2. Opportunity for career advancement
3. Better employment opportunities
4. Opportunity to experience a new culture/environment

* 31 percent of employers worldwide are concerned about losing national talent to other countries.

* Top Countries for Recruiting Foreign Talent (majority possess professional or technical skills)
1. China
2. United States
3. India
4. United Kingdom
5. Germany
The only other less-than-fully-developed country on the list is Poland, in tenth place.

* Top Countries Believed to be a Competitive Threat
1. China
2. United States
3. India
4. United Kingdom
5. Japan

* Recorded remittances from foreign workers worldwide, according to the World Bank, totaled $318 billion in 2007.
* Most Money Sent Home by Foreign Workers
1. India
2. China
3. Mexico
4. Philippines

‘Leading By Principles’ from Lou Gerstner’s “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?”

I was recently reviewing some of my previous notes and came across these principles from Lou Gerstner’s book (that describes the fascinating turnaround of IBM). The book is a must-read for anyone interested in organizational success. These principles seem to be highly relevant for any organization even today.

1. The marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do.
2. At our core, we are a technology company with an overriding commitment to quality.
3. Our primary measures of success are customer satisfaction and shareholder value.
4. We operate as an entrepreneurial organization with a minimum of bureaucracy and never ending focus on productivity.
5. We never lose sight of our strategic vision.
6. We think and act with a sense of urgency.
7. Oustanding, dedicated people (constructive impatience) make it all happen, particularly when they work as a team.
8. We are sensitive to the needs of all employees and to the communities in which we operate
.

According to Lou, the FUNDAMENTALS for successful executives are:
1. They’re focused.
2. They’re superb at execution.
3. They abound with personal leadership.

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