SMART Goals

Aim for the moon, even if you miss, you will land among the stars

I’ve been hearing this since forever… and then this

         SMART Goals.

                  ‘Work Hard, Work SMARTER’

Why so much of SMART…!!?? What’s the deal about this whole ‘getting smart’ thing.

The history of mankind is studded with great stories of heroism and perseverance. Alexander conquered the world, Gandhi taught the art of non violence to millions, Einstein redefined the way we interpreted the concept of space and time, Messi and Ronaldo questioning our beliefs about the potential of a human on a football field.

The above stories have a common link to them. The link of vision. Greatness is not an accident, it requires a vision to set a goal, perseverance to follow it with great amount of zeal and passion accompanied with a proper planning.

Similarly for an organization to flourish, it should have a clear vision and objective engraved into the DNA of its philosophy. The management's role lies in estimating the goal which is based on following parameters: 

SMART Goals

S - specific, significant, stretching

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational, manageable

A - attainable, agreed upon, achievable, acceptable

R - relevant, realistic, reasonable, rewarding, result-oriented

T - time-bound, time-based, timely, tangible

The estimated Goal should have all the above mentioned characteristics. It must satisfy all the different criteria  and must be a function of all of them.
 

To explain the philosophy behind the goal setting, let's revisit the activity of tower building. We have gathered the following data from the past records regarding the tower building activity:

History: 27                    Potential: Unknown

The parameters to be decided are the Goal Set and Goal achieved.

Goal Set: To be decided       Goal achieved: Unknown 

A: Goal Set                    B: Potential                   C: Goal Achieved                       D: History

Taking into consideration the variables that are a must for a smart goal, the goal set(ambitious) must be greater than the historical mark that has already been achieved. Similarly, it should also reflect the organization's capacity to deliver. Unrealistic goals are equally misleading and dangerous as the under-estimated goals. Hence the goal to be set should challenge an organization's potential and should push it to redefine the historical benchmarks that have been set in that particular field.

The X and Y of Management

"Nothing is black or white, they are just different shades of grey"

Being naïve can be a virtue of merits. We start learning from A, B, C but we start actualising from X & Y.

Practising McGregor’s stipulations of X and Y was everybody around me, may be myself as well.

Theory of ‘The Theory’:

The beauty of the theory is that it doesn't preach. It lets you choose your own right and wrong. The feature to customize the theory as per your assumptions, makes it all the more appealing. The virtue of seeing the shades of grey is invaluable to a manager.

Theory X

Theory X assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this encourages an authoritarian style of management. According to this view, management must actively intervene to get things done.

Theory Y

Theory Y expounds a participative style of management that is decentralized. It assumes that employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy working with greater responsibility.

Similarly the workers can be clubbed into the two categories of lazy and non lazy workers. Hence the combinations so obtained are:

1) X manager lazy worker.

2) Y manager lazy worker.

3) X manager non lazy worker.

4) Y manager non lazy worker.

The best combination from the above mentioned is clearly the one where manager is motivating(Y) and the workers are non lazy. It's a recipe for innovation and excellence.

But what if the workers are lazy? Would you prefer being a manager who is an authoritarian and keeps the variables that might lead to discrepancy in check or would you prefer a more liberal environment for work? The choice is yours to make.

Parents and teachers have set examples of balancing between the two shades in order to get the maximum out of their children. Human behavior is full of complexities and hence the subjective nature of the matter requires improvisation.

Generally larger organisations with huge labor force prefer X style of management. It's easier to set process and make the masses follow it. The probability of error is reduced but so is the opportunity for innovation. On the other side of spectrum the new start-up and small scale companies prefer to follow Y style of management to promote innovation and individuality. The decentralization of management in such cases have produced great results.

Hence in my opinion, the theory requires a deeper understanding and further improvisation by managers in order to customize their approach for specific cases in order to extract the best from their employees.

Navrang Puzzle - Blocks of Leadership

“There is no substitute for talent but, on the field, talent without unity of purpose is a hopelessly devalued currency.”

Navrang Cube puzzle

The Navrang puzzle was introduced to us in two lights:

       

       ·         As a product for MANDI, where our customer base spanned from the 4s to the 40s

       ·         A tool to depict management principles focussing on work behaviour

As engineering graduates, our first strike at the puzzle was the attempt to hack it. But interestingly, Dr. ‘Mandi’ came up with this concept of work behaviour with this puzzle.

So basically, all the students were challenged to arrange 27 cubes of 9 colours and make 1 big cube. The catch lied in the fact that each face should contain all the 9 colours.

Playing the Ball:

What it implies:

Break the Routine

Replace working by "rule of thumb", or simple habit and common sense. When you have the special skills of rationale employ them. Education isn’t meant to adorn your résumé instead use the knowledge gained to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.

Delegation

Skill-mapping is highly important to elevate oneself from the worker to resource scale of performance. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.

Collaboration

Nothing can steer a team than the leaders ‘walking the talk’ themselves. Be a leader of action than of words.

Verify & Evaluate

Monitor performance, provide instructions and supervision so as to ensure extracting the best out of the available resources. Its good to move ahead, but equally important to gauge if the movement is in correct direction.

Hence the Navrang puzzle exercise was not only intended to storm our logical aptitude to solve and market the product for MANDI, but on a higher note sensitized us to the essentials of leadership in management.

To wrap up, the essence of good leadership includes not only bringing great talent to the party, but also creating an environment that encourages people to come together around a clear and compelling purpose.

Valley Crossing Exercise - Surviving through Risks

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking”.

                                                                                      -Voltaire

The Puzzle

The valley crossing activity requires three men holding a pole over their shoulders to cross a valley. The valley is so wide that one cannot cross it in a single step but it requires less than 2 steps. The activity demands high amount of coordination as even a slight misjudgement can lead to disastrous results. The solution devised for the problem is a prime example of improvisation and process formulation in order to tackle a seemingly complex problem.

Structuring the Task:

It was important to break down the task into roles and responsibilities corresponding to each individual. Assigning the roles reduced the complexity and uncertainty in the process.

Process:
Half Safe – One leg in the air and the other leg has support
Full unsafe - Both the legs are in the air without any support
Full Safe - Both the legs have full support

Solution

Role X = Role Y = Role Z

All roles are equal and there is no differentiation between the responsibilities of any two persons. All three are equally responsible in their contributions for the overall task completion.

Risk and Responsibilities:

Roles of all three members are similar but not same; and equivalent in terms of total effort & risk.

All 3 member Roles have equal distribution of 

·                     Risky situations (1)

·                     Half risky situations (2)

·                     No risk situations (6)

The ideal situation in an organization would demand the “No Risk” scenario to be maximum. Hence our objective should be to reduce the risk factors in the process.

Communication and feedback across the 3 members was instantaneous.

Interdependence among the 3 members was maximized and made crucial.

The roles are interlocking, with highest levels of interaction among the members, with instantaneous feedback being exchange and without any scope for social loafing.

The highest risk position was for the last person while putting his last foot. Why so? Haste, as they say, is the diciest of all reflexes. And that’s what calls in for the attributes to come.

Trust:

Trust is of utmost importance, be it in personal relationships of professional ones. Lack of trust creates doubts and becomes a major headwind for smooth flow of information.

Patience & Perseverance:

“Don’t cry halo till you’re out of the woods.”

For each step taken, the intent is partially accomplished but its way too early to recognise the same unless its all done. The steadiness till the last moment, for the entire team to stand up with the same pace becomes quite important.

Continuous and clear chain of Communication:

All the 3 members are systematically trained for all the steps and, while crossing, they communicate and coordinate with each other through a various kinds of sounds and other signals.

Team Excellence:

Team excellence comes through proper designing of team tasks, correctly assigning team roles, and preparation and execution of the tasks. Thus, excellence is designed by the managers.

To wind up, you not only survive through the risks and the ordeals...you exult as a triumphant...!!! And that's the gist of it. :)

On Work Behaviour… Why? What? How?

Pondering on my Work Behaviour

Strangely, after having written quite a lot about everything I come across, the thought of elaborating on my ‘work behaviour’ never crossed my mind. And today that I’m writing this, not sure if its out of sheer choice or a choice induced, but whatever invoked me, hopefully help me articulate my ideology in the best possible way.

Well work behaviour or precisely putting, the rudders to direct my efforts into anything at hand are usually guided by a basic concept. It should feel ‘correct’ to me, justification shouldn’t be required, it should be so convincing.

So fundamentally I can structure my work aptitude into three components:

• Picking
• Doing
• Reviewing

Sounds very ‘IT type’, but seems uncompromisingly essential to me.

I should better let the diagram do the talking.

So ultimately when the ultimate motive remains to attain a logical conclusion in whatever I reach out for, it should be a ‘win-win’ stride for all the participants. But the bedrock to all this thought remains,

“Deeds, not words, shall prove me…”

Just to wrap up.... You don't need to run behind accolades, just become worthy enough... It really works and does feel super-Good :)

Infusing CHARISMA to MANDI

Charismatic Leadership 

I'm no musician, but only if we could use this concept for propagating the concept of MANDI, it definitely would have impact.

The kind of charisma a multilingual music video can infuse would be great, given the kind of permeability good music has.

PS: It can be commenced with a bunch of motivated music enthusiasts on will. :)

MahaMandi’14

Chronicles from ‘The Day’

As published in the earlier posts, MANDI was an emblem of curious enthusiasm for us. This day when we finally got our feet into the mud, all we could come out with is a long-hailed chain of adjectives and of experience way too awesome than we’d ever speculated. Despite of the surprises and not-so-convenient circumstances, the event lived up to the aura created around it. It’s no more a mere ‘B-school event’… it’s a venture to explore oneself.

Well, all these lines do convey that it was an out-n-out superb experience. But what do we derive out of it? 

Few pointers, to keep it short:

·        Be Prepared for the Unplanned

Being on the streets we realized that almost anything and everything on this earth can come in front of you. Despite, anticipating the variant hues of the probable consumers and putting in all the permutations we could theoretically think of, we were welcomed with surprises all our way. But the panacea here stays to be able to contain that surprise, enliven your scheme with that than being shocked.

When a person from the supposedly ‘elite class’ says, “NITIE!!??? Might be some college… Mumbai has lots of them” composure is what comes to your rescue.

·        But also Plan for the basics

So all set for the storms and surprises, one can never miss on the essentials. What you are projecting to be, the products, the campaign, every single word we blurt out to pitch ourselves shouldn’t become a sword against us. Being informed can be the biggest aide in such situations.

·        Flexibility!!! that’s the Mantra

Yes, that’s ‘THE’ word. You simply need to mold yourself with whatever comes ahead. You have this agenda but it’s only the projection you need to manipulate to get the purpose served. Two persons can agree on the same fact, but their rationale might be way too distant. To decipher this distance and leverage it, marks the betterment of your endeavor.

There were people who bought stuff just for the sake of the fancy straws and colorful box; and there were others who expected a complete RoI analysis over a scale of almost 5 years on each product. So while putting in your effort, the orientation should be to invest your effort to growth rather than binning it to wastage.

·    Respect for Individual

That’s the thumb rule. No matter who the person is, even if he doesn’t makes a profitable market for you or expects your time before investing into you, or even if you spent a good 15 minutes on him just to hear “Sorry.. We’re not interested”; disrespecting him is an absolute no-no.

There had been times when we had to be at the receiving end for ‘disrespect’, even then your poise is what sets you apart from the usual league. That one ‘Good Luck’ note on departing leaves an impression to create a relationship. As they say about elevated goals, raise from the seller mindset to an intent of building relations towards a purpose.

·        N don’t forget to Enjoy…

Yes. How-much-ever toll its taking out of you, it can only be reduced if we enjoy our work. Celebrate each sale, every relation acquired, and so on.

There’s a whole lot we got to know through ‘Maha Mandi’ which is unmatched, for sure. But the essence of collaboration as they say, this is the first time I, personally, saw it so evidently in action.

"SOCHO... SEEKHO... BECHO..." it just becomes so natural there. :)

Last but definitely not the least... Thanks to the GREAT TEAM we were... 

#mahamandi

#happyfaces

#blessings&appreciation

MAHA MANDI '14 - Coming Soon (9th August)

And a poster in my vernacular (i.e. Kumaoni)

Happy Learning!!! :)

Charismatic Leadership

From Enchanting to Driving

Charisma, clearly depicts a sense of magnetic appeal, of awe. Undeniably a very strong sentiment it is. A mere presence can enthuse one to get into action, that’s the kind of influence ‘charisma’ has.

As is obvious, this is a perfect match for a leader.

Since a lot has been written about leadership, here is my view of leadership in a very specific light called ‘Charismatic Leadership’.

Time and again, we have seen amazing leadership as well as celebrities culminating. Then what marks the difference between the two. What was that persona of the sort of Vivekananda commanded that went missing in Rajnikant. It isn’t a comparison of the personalities, but definitely their impact on the multitude which revered them.

Let’s elaborate it with a more convenient example. Take MANDI.

MANDI as a concept has undeniably huge fan-following. Outsiders, without even knowing the idea of its inception find it exciting and can be willing to join it. Obvious it is, too many glazed attachments that it comes with. Looks all wonderful and ecstatic. That’s the charisma of MANDI. Even I as a fresher just want to be a part of the event, and it is quite possible that no other event would have seen such undaunted attention. But that’s all about the charisma part. Unless and until we’re a part of it, its all stories, good to listen and intriguing in gesture. You call and we do anything to be ‘there’.

But in this whole process, Mandi is growing, evolving in itself. If you’re not there, there’s nothing much this concept is of use to you. But beyond filling that intent sheet, donning merchandise and entering into the market all set in pretence, what lies ahead is a hefty day of challenges and committed targets. What makes that pretence transform to commitment to stand strong in all those not-so-favourable situations is the energy enthused and that is what implies the leadership factor of MANDI’s charisma, Charismatic Leadership in essence.

Its all about an inside-out model of leadership, where you keep on your usual course of self-evolution, but your growth isn’t supposed to be confined. Its contagious and what it causes is to infuse similar urge of betterment into anybody and everybody who is smitten by it ‘the leader’.

If we talk of MANDI, completing the event is one accomplishment, the event encourages many of us to do. But the real embodiment of the success of this concept as a leader is in germinating seeds of entrepreneurs and marketers and biz-wizards of tomorrow.

And as HBR speaks, leadership in essence is an elevation from self to others. Whatever we do for ourselves can inspire others, but its slated as Leadership only when it drives the inspired ones to deliver logical conclusions to their aspirations.

In context of charisma, transforming the piper’s rats (in effect of Charisma – herd mentality) to inspired ‘sisters’ of Lijjat is what forms the core of Charismatic Leadership.