Excuses

Its been a long absence from the Blog world. Let us see which excuse should I pick - dog ate my blog-notes, busy at work, lazy to post a blog, did not care to post a blog or all of these. Not sure which to pick.

So here is the challenge - you and/or your team has a tight timeline for a work-product delivery. There are regular check-points and everything looks green as an emerald. However, 48 hours before the end of your timeline something blows-up and you know for sure you cannot recover and deliver in the 48 hour window. So, what is the excuse you choose?

I see it at various levels of organizations where workers across the rank and file are searching for excuses. It is very easy to see when a manager or an executive starts of as "We were on target however..." and there comes the excuse. Why do we have to search something else to blame and not ourselves for the poor planning and execution. Such mishaps bring out the real leaders because a real leader, irrespective of their rank in the organization, is resilient and has a clear strategy to accept the mistake and bounce back even if it means looking at a revised timeline.

Back to where I started from, where was I all this while? I was busy at work and too lazy to post a blog.

So, the next time around, you hit a road-block just before your project delivery date - are you going to look for excuses or going to stand-up and admit that you messed-up? Think about it !

Vacation

I was recently reading an article somewhere on how more and more of the work-force carries their cellphone / laptop / blackberry etc. etc with them on their vacation. If that was not enough, a large population actually checks their email while on vacation. To complete the story, quite a few of them actually join conference calls while they are on vacation.

Having said all this, picture the other side. As executives we promote the concept of implementing self-sustaining generic processes which are not "individual dependent" and also implement systems to remove the "human dependency" which basically implies that we implement process where A SPECIFIC person does not need to be involved in completing a process, anyone or someone can fill-in a slot when THE SPECIFIC person in not available.

Something is not correct with this picture - because we contradict ourselves. We try to achieve self-sustaining, scaleable processes and at the same time we are so dependent on specific individuals that a mere mention of a vacation puts us into "who is your back-up mode"? It does not end there - for the folks who go on a vacation supposedly without a Blackberry or a laptop or a cellphone they are always worried - "how is the work going on"? Think of it like this - will the IRS stop functioning if you left planet earth today? What about GE? Will that function if you died today (if you are an employee at GE or IRS? Of course they will continue to exists. So then, why is vacation a big deal for us as managers / executives?

So the next time around, someone on you team is planning a vacation - are you going to ask for their contact information while on vacation or are you going to use this as an opportunity to implement a process that is not person specific? Think about it !

Banana

Ever heard anyone use this metaphor in the business world? Not really. But I think that the shelf-life of a banana is the same to that of technology available today. And that is where business can use this parlance of a banana.

Think of it like this - As executives we spend long hours discussing new business processes and then use technology as a lever to implement and streamline these processes. By the time we implement these technology-enabled processes, well, the core-technology has evolved and we are back to the drawing boards either trying to retrofit the newer technology to existing process. Most of the time, across the world, the major push-back is due to the fact that there are process-changes in companies and quite a few of these changes are driven by the fact that there is new technology available to better perform the work.

Why do companies keep chasing the infinite - implement technology only to yank it out later because it has become out-dated and has a shelf-life of a banana? Here today, gone tomorrow - with that as an open secret, we as executives need to address current problems in efficiencies because if we do not do it, our competitor will. We need to adopt the latest greatest technology and then be prepared to accept and implement the changes that come with any technology.

So, the next time around, you are evaluating a new technology are you going to ask yourself and the technical provider - how new is this technology or how old is this technology? Think about it !

Innovative Company

This is something that the Business Week came out last week with a list of 25 top innovative companies. They list Apple as the number 1 innovative company of the world. As I was reading this article I began to think what really makes a company innovative? What do you define as "Innovation"? (See my previous rambling on innovation)

How in the world can you say that Apple is the most innovative company in the world? It is extremely wrong to say one company is the most innovative company of the world. It is similar to what kids say to each other - My Dad is the strongest dad in the whole world ! How can one compare two distinct companies, for example, one that makes computers, music players, and now cell phones (namely Apple) to another company that saves lives by manufacturing cancer fighting drugs (namely Genentech)? You cannot and should not give the title of the Most Innovative Company of the World to either because each catering to different segments.

One key feature that these yard-stick magazines fail to perform is look at the value add that each employee brings to the company which basically means that if I were to draw a huge value-chain analysis chart for every employee of the company I should be able to see distinct addition as a I perform the analysis. That is when I will really be able to say what is the most innovative way and therefore say if that company is the most innovative company within that product segment.

So the next time around, someone tells you that their company featured on the most innovative companies list - are you going to congratulate them or ask them "which segment are you the most innovative in?". Think about it !

Courage

Courage - Not something that someone usually talks about at work. I have worked with folks from various countries on initiatives however have never ever heard people talk about courage openly. This is something like "the birds and the bees" - it is always there but you never talk about it !

Why don't we talk about courage in the business environment so openly like we talk about ROI, Initiative, Mergers, Acquisition etc. etc. I think it comes down to the fact that people talk about the "Risk" of doing business, the "Risk" of executing a project however are afraid to say that they have the courage to go down a path that they choose based of some data. Why are executives afraid to use the word "courage"? Because, in my opinion, they are afraid of failure. Afraid of being seen by their team that they were not courageous enough to take the more risky path that would have ensured success.

Courage in the business parlance does not really end when something fails. Courage really kicks in when something fails. I see more and more executives having very little courage to stand-up and say that "I am responsible for this failure". It takes a lot of courage to accept failure. I agree someone in your team did not perform his / her role and therefore the team failed. However, more and more executives do not have the courage to say that they were the leaders of the team that failed. Finger-pointing kicks in rather than courage. Enron is a prime example.

So, the next time someone asks you why did you select the a particular option in your business, are you going to say it was the least risky or you are going to say because I am courageous I took the option that will ensure success? Think about it!

Resignation

I am writing after a long time and my experience below will tell you the reason why.

There is plenty and plenty of stuff written all-over on how you should resign from your current job, when you should resign, how you should communicate your resignation etc. etc. However what I have found challenging is how should you communicate to your team that their manager's manager has resigned? What are the implications of this to the division? What is our long-term strategy to fill this slot?

I went through this experience for the first time and had the "privilege" to communicate the news to the people who report into me that their executive was leaving the company. Was the experience good? Yes. Did I learn something out from this experience? Yes.

For the operators who man the help-line phones, for the business-analysts that work with the business users and gather requirements and build IT solutions, the executive is someone who is defining the strategy for their existence - for example to off-shore or not? To Layoff or not? and so on...and to tell them that their executive is leaving and I (their manager) will perform both the roles for the foreseeable future makes these guys nervous because they read between lines. Why did the director quit? Does the executive team know something that we do not?...it is natural for the team down the food-chain to get these thoughts. I did when I was down the food-chain.

So how do you make this transition at a senior-level seamless to the team down there in the trenches?

Announce the resignation to the whole team together. Announce who will take over. The person who is taking over needs to articulate his / her strategy from the get-go even if the strategy is identical to the one in place. Show that you are in control and there is no ambiguity for the rest of the foreseeable future. Communicate frequently with regular updates on the transition. Rapidly build new relations with other executives with whom you will now have to interact. Lastly and most importantly, go after the low-hanging fruit to show quick wins and demonstrate to all and sundry that you are dependable and believe in delivering results. Someone whom I admire for doing this is Mark Hurd of HP. As an executive he has done an outstanding job of taking control and turning things around. His is a classic case of a turn-around success story.

So, the next time around - you have to announce a resignation of an executive remember the team-player down the chain is looking to hear "There are no changes to your job roles and responsibilities". They does not really care what else you say. Or do they? Think about it !

Burn-Out

Burn-Out - The biggest pain of the every manager across the world. As we see more improvements in Information Technology we see the non-existence of a "typical 9-5 workday". I do not want to spend time promoting the thought of having a need for work-life balance however I want to spend time that as managers and executives what can we do to enforce work-life balance.

Every project goes through the cycles of peaks and troughs and then eventually ends. I see quite a few managers across the world that do not recognize the peaks and troughs and therefore expect to see the teams perform at a plateau for extended periods. Further, at the end of the project there is no downtime provided for individuals to recover and ramp-up gradually again.

As executives we need to recognize the peaks and troughs and to do this we need to review project plans in detail with emphasis on milestone dates. I see this as one of the biggest gaps that managers do not want to get into a little more detail. Once we have identified the details align resources which will then give them an opportunity to celebrate their success for smaller wins. Of course this does not solve a typical work-life issue of having to pick-up the kids from school at 5 PM however keeps the teams motivated. As leaders, it is imperative that we recognize that there are no work boundaries - all you need is a phone line and internet access and you off to the races. Use this fact to your advantage by letting teams have flexible schedules as much as possible.

Once a project is done I do not see a real need to burn out resources by having them perform at top-levels once again immediately. There has to be a "down-time" and when I say a "down-time" I mean to let the individuals take some paid time-off in addition to their vacation. Let them spend time with the family, go do something that really interests them than anything else. I have done this many times and I see that it really charges up the team-members for the next assignment.

So, the next time you plan you next big project, are you going to leverage technology to build the team or going to burn them out by letting them work round the clock forever? Think about it !