Every experience is an experiment: That’s why it matters!!

Albert Einstein said: ‘There is only one source of knowledge in the world. That is experience’.

Yes, every experience matters because each one comes as a package with a few lessons for the future. Experiences are experiments. Some results cheer us up. But some unexpected results could initially disappoint us. But in the long run, we would find them to be our points of caution when we are about to take crucial decisions in life. 

I heard this anecdote. Someone asked a successful person: ‘What is the secret of your success?’ He answered: ‘It is only two words – Right Decisions’. Then the next question to him: ‘How did you take right decisions?’ The answer was a quick one word. ‘Experience’. Then the next and last question: ‘How do you get experience?’. The answer was to the point! ‘Wrong decisions!’

When I started working and was leading a team, I had thought that my decisions were the best. I prepared my proposals and projects and rushed to my seniors thinking that they were path breaking and revolutionary. I questioned the rationale of the existing system and the procedures and suggested their immediate replacements. But those seniors, who had a rich experience in the job,  needed only a few minutes to shoot down some of my proposals stating that they won’t work! I felt disappointed and thought they were conservative and were against innovation. But, later in my career, I found that some of those advices by them were indeed right. It took me a few years of experience to understand the worth of an experienced person!

Picture for representation purpose only

But there is a real danger when ‘old’ experiences do not make way to ‘new’ experiences. The experienced persons should be open to experiment new ideas. That means, there should be opportunities for the newcomers to experiment their ideas by shouldering responsible positions. These can happen only when the experienced seniors either delegate sufficient authority to juniors or vacate their positions if their ideas are no longer relevant. None, how much senior, experienced or competent they are, should feel themselves indispensable in any organization.

N R Narayana Murthy, Co-founder of Infosys while retiring form the company wrote: ‘I definitely think I can leave in peace. I think the new leaders are definitely smarter than me’. Yes, it requires a lot of humility, courage and trust to say that. (However, later he had to come back when things were not moving well. I have narrated this here).

Experienced people may be the most suitable leaders in any organization. But they should be broadminded to accept the suggestions and inputs from those below and those who are freshers. In a letter issued by N R Narayana Murthy to the Infosys shareholders, he rightly observed that, ‘Many intelligent people have very high ego and low patience. If they cross the threshold, it takes courage to inform them that they have to leave’. But who will bell the cat?

To note

Experience matters in every situation and in every organization

Every experience comes with a lesson for the future

Experienced persons should have the humility, courage and trust to accept the inputs from less experienced persons

In due course, the more experienced persons should make way for the new ones to experiment new ideas by giving them appropriate responsibility

Hyper intelligent seniors who are with high ego and low patience should leave the ground voluntarily

                              Views are personal.   ©  Sibichen K Mathew

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Why some bosses chose to be inaccessible?

Mr Menon is one of the senior Directors in an organization. Though he is in charge of Human Resource Management, his subordinates say that he seems to be one of the most inhuman officers. Menon has given strict instructions to everyone such that nobody is allowed to meet him without a prior appointment through his secretary. Further, the secretary has been told to deny appointments in the first instance. Only if people persist and beg for a meeting will they be given a slot, which is also not immediate. He basically wants people to believe that he is very busy and does not wish to encourage walk-in visitors.

One Division Head, who had recently joined the organization, faced a serious HR issue within his division and wanted to personally meet the Managing Director to brief him. As he used to in his previous organization, he called up the Managing Director - who is just one level above him - and requested for a meeting. The Managing Director got annoyed and said, ‘Contact my secretary if you want to get a meeting fixed with me.’ The response was shocking for the senior manager. He told his colleague, ‘This is the first time in my 15 years of working that I have been so rudely treated by a boss. I don’t think I will be able to work under such bosses.’ After joining the new organization with a lot of motivation and eagerness to bring in innovations, the Division Head felt disappointed and almost felt like quitting.

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Unapproachable bosses tend to keep a distance from their subordinates and often fail to understand the people around them. They wear the garb of a ‘serious’ taskmaster. Their juniors might fear them and hold back on giving them honest feedback. There can also be overall dissatisfaction in their teams.

We are used to hearing this phrase: ‘Content is the king; conversation is the queen’. Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind say that leadership is a conversation . They conducted a research project on the state of organizational communication in the 21st century and found that smart leaders engage with employees in a way that resembles an ordinary ‘person to person’ conversation, rather than through one-sided commands. They identified four elements of organizational conversation that reflect the key attributes of interpersonal conversation: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion and intentionality.

Robert Greene, in his 16th Law of power, advises that if you ‘make yourself too available then the aura of power you have created around yourself will wear away. Turn the game around: make yourself less accessible and you increase the value of your presence.’ However, in the post-globalized world where changes happen rapidly, decisions need to be taken every moment and the team needs to be motivated and directed to new areas for the survival of the organization, no leader can afford to play the game of hide and seek. Thus, an absence like this would not create respect and esteem.  Boyatzis and Annie wrote:‘Mindfulness, hope and compassion are the three key elements for resonant leadership.’ Being present and being respected is the new ball game. The belief that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ is passé.

The need for a zero hour

Under rules of proceedings of Indian Parliament, there is a provision called Zero Hour. This is a period when any Member can ask a question concerning administration, governance or issues of public interest by giving notice prior to the start of daily proceedings to the Speaker/Chairman. Similarly, it is necessary for bosses of large organizations to give time to team members to meet him and discuss or share issues. Caroline Ghosn, CEO, the Levo League said : ‘Dedicate one hour a week to hosting office hours: open your door, block your calendar and invite your team to drop in and share.’

Here is an example of a senior officer at a large public organization of about 10000 officers and 50000 staff who holds the most important position with highly sensitive and demanding tasks. She is responsible for reporting to the highest functionaries in the government, including a Cabinet Minister. Every minute of hers is valuable. She hardly gets time at home because of the pressure of official tasks. However, the first thing she did as soon as she was elevated to the post was to send out a letter across the organization, welcoming anyone with an unsettled grievance to meet with her or send their messages or grievances at an exclusive email id monitored by her personally. . Further, she informed everyone that they could call her directly between 10 to 11 am on all working days. She strongly believes that every official is an asset and the output and overall success of the organization depends on their happiness. 

Unapproachable boss is a ‘loser’

An unapproachable boss doesn’t earn the respect of people around him. He does not get real feedback about the organization as he fails to be receptive to people. Thus, the ultimate loser is the organization itself. It is imperative that those with excellent communication and management skills are the ones who are  appointed to the top levels in any organization. Training in soft skills is also as important at the top levels as in the lower ones.  Though there may be criticism that it is wasteful to ‘apply manure at the fag end’, it is necessary to do so in many organizations, especially those where top leadership positions are filled up solely on the basis of seniority.

Heard this joke somewhere:

‘I  don’t want any callers this afternoon,’ said the boss to his secretary, ‘And if they say that their business is important, just tell them that everyone says the same thing.’

 That afternoon his wife called and insisted on seeing him. When the secretary refused, she said, ‘I am his wife,’ to which the secretary replied, ‘That’s what they all say.’

The boss needs to step out of the tower

1.            Develop keen interest in knowing about the employees:

The boss needs to have an understanding of the backgrounds of his team members. If the span of control is large, the boss should have ready access to each employee’s profile, which contains their family details, leave history, relevant medical history, recent career profile, etc.

2.            Receptivity

The attitude, temperament, behaviour and visible expressions of the boss should be such that no one would hesitate to approach him with an issue. 

3.            Enthusiasm

No one likes a boss who is lethargic, sluggish and too matter of fact. Bosses should have the ability to make the other person comfortable and forthcoming with ideas and opinions. His overall body language should be oriented towards those who come to converse with him. Who would like to interact with a person who has a disinterested air about him?  

4.            Availability

The boss should be mobile. That doesn’t mean that he should not spend time in his cabin; but he should be available for people to see him with regularity. If he is frequently away on travel or spends most of his time only with his boss or colleagues, it would affect smooth upward communication.

Question to you:            Do you have a boss like this? 

Introspection for you:   Are you one such boss??

The above article is substantially drawn from author’s best-selling book ‘When the Boss is Wrong: The Making and Unmaking of the Leader within You’, which is available in most online and offline bookstores. Grab a copy to know about how bad bosses kill employee morale.

“The book ‘When the Boss is Wrong’ provides an insight on how to become a leader who is respected. Its use of amusing illustrations, anecdotes and examples brings to life situations typically encountered at the workplace.’ (Cyrus P. Mistry, Chairman, Tata Sons Ltd)

© Sibichen K Mathew         Views are personal             sibi5555 (gmail)

Are you a chatterbox?

Someone commented that as a person goes up the organizational hierarchy he has more time and less work. These results in making them spend their time in long conversations at workplaces. But this is not applicable only to the seniors; many bosses at all levels find chatting as a pastime in their offices.

There are people who are fond of unending talk. For them, there is no topic about which they can’t jabber. They may make the atmosphere bubbly, but end their day without much value creation. This is an asset as well as a liability. While they can make friends easily, some of their friends would vanish in no time if they find the chat too overbearing and worthless. Lot of valuable time is wasted through such unnecessary sharing of views and opinions about anyone and anything. I used to paste a small slip on the outside of my door of my hostel room where I wrote ‘I like chatting; But not now!’ That was my strategy to avoid some of my chatterbox friends. This strategy is not to escape from chatting altogether. But one needs to prioritize and allocate appropriate time for everything.



    As per the blabbermouth theory of leadership, persons who talk the loudest or the longest would become the leader. This is no longer true. People expect and appreciate quality in conversations of a leader rather than the quantity. A person becomes ineffective, if he indulges in what some people call ‘verbal diarrhoea’. The tongue deserves more rest so that the mind and ears can be directed towards internalizing the ideas and actions of others. 

Some managers have no hesitation to extend their chat to extreme personal levels.  Avila had this to share: ‘My boss had no sense of boundaries at work. She would freely mingle and get personal with the trainees. This was a bone of contention in our team. Then one day she attended one of my sessions where we were playing a learning game, she took over and twisted the game into the personal arena. Trainees and I got to ask intimate personal questions. Oh what a show down we had in the team room later that day!’

The time spent on telephonic chatting

Some bosses are known for engaging in long chatting with his pals over phone in spite of the fact that there are many important and impatient visitors waiting in front of them. Even when the listener doesn’t really enjoy the nonsensical cackling of the boss, he has to put up with that! Because the boss is on the other side of the phone!

Recently I had to visit a government office for some urgent work. Thanks to the out sourcing wave, the reception is managed by a private security guard. He was on the free telephone, chatting with someone very intimately. I tried clearing my throat very loudly to catch his attention. He looked up from his glass chamber and reluctantly cut-short the phone and gestured at me. He informed the room number of the officer with whom I had taken a telephonic appointment (which was obtained after several attempts as ‘all the lines to that office were busy’).

Since there was no peon in the vicinity, I gently opened the door to the officer’s room. The officer is on the phone and I smiled at him while he just looked through me . I took a few steps inside. We had not met each other before. That may be the reason for his continued attention to the impressive talk at the other end of his telephone. I thought , he would gesture me to sit. Realizing that the officer is very much amused by the incoming gossip and also in a mood to part with his own contributions to spice it up, I slowly came out of the room. I took the steps slowly, expecting a call from behind to stay back. I went out. Most of the staff members were busy over the telephones, either land phones or cell phones.

After a while, I peeped at the officer’s room and  found that saab was on another line. As his concentration and involvement during telephonic conversations were at its best I closed the door and came out. It was about one hour since I entered this office. Thought I could reach him after a few minutes , I went in search of one my colleagues who also worked in that office. Fortunately she was available in the room and very happily welcomed me with surprise as we were meeting after many years. As I sat on the chair, she ordered for coffee and then enquired where I am posted and purpose of the visit to this city. As I opened my mouth, one of her telephones rang. She continuously said ‘Yes Ma’am’, ‘Right Ma’am’, ‘Ok Ma’am’ etc.  for about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile other phones in the room also started ringing one by one, at alternate intervals. As she was about to sip the coffee, which was cold by then, and as I was about to answer her first query, her phone rang again. The voice from the other side was so loud that I could hear the lady. My colleague looked at me and told that she is her batch mate calling from the other side of the country and continued the conversation. They were discussing all topics which amused both of them viz. the promotion prospects, recent divorces and separations among colleagues, problem of domestic servants and mothers-in-law, of womanising bosses , nutty lady bosses, kids’ home works and what not. Even after about twenty five minutes of chatting (with intermediate smiles at me as if I am also a subject of the discussion or active participant of the conversation), she was not in a mood to close the call. Meanwhile her cell phone rang and she quickly glanced at the number and said to me, ‘Call from kids. They want my telephonic help for homework’. I gave her a gesture that ‘I will just be back’ and hurriedly escaped the room. May be she would have thought that I had gone to respond to some natural calls. I peeped once again to see whether the officer was free, but found him still pursuing the business of chatting over phone.

It is good news that the telecommunications have become the lifelines for individuals and organizations today because they are cheap and omnipresent. But it is bad news that it is not used by the right people at the right place at the right time, for the right task and for the right duration.

In a study conducted by Vodafone UK, it was found that 65% of managers do not mind staff doing personal things like calling family members or checking social networking sites, as long as they get all their work done. However, 65% of managers, may be as a ‘quid pro quo’ wanted their employees to work outside their traditional office hours.

As one goes up one should speak less and listen more. Bosses should be the role models in demonstrating to the team about the value of time and the need to be judicious while engaging in telephonic conversations at the workplace, whether they are made for official or personal purposes.

What is the solution?

 It is written in proverbs that ‘A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered’. Bosses need to demonstrate his competency and warmth not through many words but by short and sweet interactions. If you don’t value your time in the organization none will.      

 Don’t  encourage a chatterbox-boss by contributing to spice up the unending chat. At the earliest opportunity drive him to the point you need him to address. Avoid frequent interactions with chronic ‘chatters’.

Organizations need to establish a culture that discourages long personal calls at the work place. Practice a convention of conducting meetings with proper agenda without unnecessary digressions, but in a friendly and pleasant environment.

Effective leaders believe in the famous quote, ‘An ounce of doing is better than a ton of talking’. But that do not deter them from listening to the people who approach them. 

Views are personal.                                © Sibichen K Mathew

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Towering bosses

Mr Menon is one of the senior Directors of an organization. Though he is in charge of Human Resources Management, his subordinates say that he seems to be one of the most inhuman senior officers. Menon has given strict instructions to everyone that none could meet him without a prior appointment through his secretary. And the secretary has been told to deny any appointment in the first instance by stating that the boss is busy with an important work. Only if they persist and beg for a meeting, they may be given a slot to meet him, which should not be immediate. He says, people should know that he is very busy and he does not wish to encourage walk-in visitors.

  

Unapproachable bosses tend to keep a distance from their subordinates. Everyone fears them. They fail to understand the people around them. No one gives them an honest feedback. They wear the garb of a ‘serious’ task master. There will be overall dissatisfaction in people who are destined to get associated with such people. These unapproachable types wish to put a fence around their aura of inflated ego.

A boss with a difference

Let me introduce you to a senior most officer of a very large public organization consisting of about 10000 officers and 50000 staff. She holds the most important position with highly sensitive and demanding tasks and is responsible for reporting to the highest functionaries in the government including the cabinet minister. Every minute of hers is valuable. She hardly gets any time even at home because of the pressure of the official tasks.

Dr Poonam Kishore Saxena IRS

The first thing she did as soon as she was elevated to the top was to send a letter across the organization welcoming anyone within the organization with an unsettled grievance to meet her. She strongly believed that every official in the organization is an asset and the output and the overall success of the organization largely depend on the happiness of the officials. None should feel that he is not been given just treatment within the organization. Even if at the cost the valuable time, this boss thought that it is her duty to give an audience to anyone who would like to share anything with her that concerns the larger interest of the organization.

Through her letter where she refers the organization as a family, she informed everyone that the doors of her room are open for officials to come without any prior appointment between 1 pm and 1 45 pm on any working day. She also informed that officials can directly call in her official phone number between 10 am and 11 am on working days. She also encouraged the officials to send their messages or grievances at an exclusive email id monitored by her personally. She assured that any requests made over phone or email will also get her equal and immediate attention and therefore the officials need not take the pains to travel for hours to meet her at the head quarter.

Unapproachable boss is a loser. He would earn the disrespect of people around him. He would not get the real feedback about the organization as he fails to be receptive to people. Thus the ultimate loser is the organization itself. It is imperative to appoint only those with excellent communication and management skills at the leadership levels in any organization. Training in soft skills is equally important at the top levels as at the lower management levels. Though there may be criticism that it is a sheer waste to put manure at the roots of a giant old tree, it is necessary as the top leadership positions of many large organizations are filled up solely on the basis of seniority.

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        Comments are welcome. Views are personal.  (c) Sibichen K Mathew

Ordinary person; extraordinary life: A simple real life story for aspiring managers

Sibichen K Mathew

 
   

C.P Shrimali, son of Damodar  Lal Srimali was in Class 6. The chubby boy beamed with joy when his classmate distributed fountain pen to all his close friends on his birthday. He proudly attached the pen to his pocket and ran to the house immediately after the school. He wanted to show the pen to his siblings. The siblings were happy to see Shrimali’s new pen and they took turns to see it. In the night, when the father returned from work after writing the accounts for about seven shops from 7am to 9.30pm, he spotted a new pen with Shrimali.

He asked gently: “Dear son, I see a new pen with you. A very beautiful one. Where did you get it?”

Shrimali said: ‘Raj was celebrating his birthday today and he gave a pen to each of his close friends as a gift.’

“Such an expensive pen?” Shrimali’s father asked. 

Save our Sports!

·      Beena was the eldest of the four daughters of a rubber tapping labourer from a hilly district of Kerala. Mr Thomas, the physical educational instructor of St George School spotted the athletic talent in this poor, slender girl, while she was in Class 7. The dedication that she made to athletics that day continued for several years. When she won her district, state, and country many gold medals, no one knew that she ran on empty stomach and that her family lived under thatched roof. When an opportunity came to showcase her talent in a prestigious international meet, the selection team and the sports authorities quietly replaced her with another less competent girl who had political backing. Beena’s talent remained in her remote village and is now living as a plantation worker.

This is just a representative case to show how patronage from the powerful can decide one’s future in sports.

·     Indian Hockey team arrived jubilantly after defeating a strong opponent. But they were reportedly ridiculed and humiliated by offering a paltry twenty five thousand rupees per player whereas each cricket team member received rewards in lakhs for a similar victory.

                                                                                                     

Why this discrimination? Critics say, cricket is big money, honey!

·       India won more than 100 medals in the in the recent Commonwealth Games, held at New  Delhi. Apart from this, the final tally included 45 cases of corruption and more than a dozen arrests.  It was alleged that there is misappropriation and mismanagement of thousands of crores.

Dick Ritger had said: ‘All sports are games of inches’. But we can correct this to, ‘All sports are games of riches’!

The above three are just representative samples of thousands of instances of dishonest, unfair and unscrupulous actions by the powers that controlled the sports in India. The first one is an illustration of how millions of meritorious sports persons are unjustly pushed out of the courts to make way for those who wield power. The second one is a clear indication of how business interests make or break a game. And the third points towards a deeper malaise that increasingly gripped the Indian society. The cancer of corruption has spread far and wide to every institution of society. And field of sports is the latest casualty.

What is common in all the above cases? Power and Money. It doesn’t matter whether there is a politician, bureaucrat, businessman, sports person or a social activist at the helm of the affairs. What matters is their driving force. Either the source or the destination or both could be either money or power or both. Let us analyse this in detail. Before we analyse this in detail, let us try to answer the following controversial question.

Should we make sports leadership out of bounds for politicians?

My instinctive answer is a big NO. But, if many politicians are corrupt, we have as many corrupt bureaucrats, sports persons, activists and religious leaders. There is no sector of the population which is untouched by the evil of dishonesty, nepotism and corruption. We need to rank which profession is corrupt based on the opportunity to be corrupt. Politicians and bureaucrats are at a comparatively vulnerable position to use and abuse money and power. But when the right opportunity knocks at their doors, our sportsmen, activists or the spiritual gurus also quietly tread into dishonest paths for personal gains. We have innumerable examples of unethical practices by persons from each of these professions. Thus the persons don’t matter; but an environment that facilitates corruption and inefficiency matters. What is needed is the creation of a system that insulates corrupt practices in sports. Before I conclude this topic, let me discuss once again if we should ban politicians from heading sports bodies.

  (courtsey)

Probably there may not be any other professional label in English language that instantly evokes a suspicious response than the word ‘Politician’.  The negativity triggers such an intense feeling that people started using this noun to anyone who is manipulative, shrewd and deceptive. Even politicians do not like them to be addressed as such, but prefers nomenclature like civic leader, social worker etc.

In a democratic polity, the politicians, whether actually a part of the ruling power structure or not, represents a cross section of society. They are assigned the roles of presenting and solving the issues faced by people. In a representative governance system, ideally, the political leaders decide about the generation and utilization of resources for the common good. Thus by having a politician as one of the decision makers in a sports body would prove to be beneficial for the prospects of sports which should be done within a systemic frame work explained at the end of this article.

Can the leadership of the sports bodies be entrusted exclusively with sportsmen? ….And if they are having political or commercial interest?

Konrad Lawrence wrote: ‘A specialist knows more and more about less and less and finally knows everything but nothing.’

This is true in the area of sports as well. The roles, functions, powers, vision and mission of a large sports body are wide, exhaustive and comprehensive. There are technical, managerial, supervisory, and inspirational skills needed to lead such an organization. Expertise in sports or a particular game is only one of the many attributes to step into the shoes. While a sportsman can assess the needs and priorities through his technical expertise, he also needs professional competence, ethical standing, managerial effectiveness, wider outlook and leadership traits that ensure cohesion and solidarity. If these are present, a sportsman would be the most suitable person to head a sports body.

Unfortunately, as in any other field, sports are also marred by allegations of dishonesty, unethical practices, and nepotism by sportsmen, former sportsmen and sports officials like coaches, umpires etc. That does not mean that there is a dearth for honest, disciplined and visionary individuals among the sports persons. As any other person of similar integrity and competence, sports persons are also eligible for selection to the top leadership of sports bodies. In fact, other things being equal, they would be at an advantageous position as compared to others due to their core competence.

 It is a fact that major sports events are not just a platform to showcase healthy competition, but avenues to provide mass entertainment, to make huge profits, for wide reaching advertisements, and to derive opportunities to wield power, and become points of strategic convergence of all of these. Therefore, there are conflicts of interests, promotion of particular interests and suppression of public interest. Being an important party in the events sportspersons do play a crucial role in all of these. This is more conspicuous when the sportspersons either directly or indirectly, manage or control marginally or substantially an event. Though many instances of such unholy nexus between sportsmen and various interests have come to light and available in the public domain, specific references are avoided here as some of these are continued to be disputed legally.

It is clear from the aforesaid discussion that sportsmen with commercial and political interest, latent or manifest, or direct or indirect cannot be a fit candidate for occupying any decisive role in any sports body.

The solution

What is imperative today is to create a system in place that formulates clear rules and guidelines regarding the eligibility and fair selection of office bearers of sports body and detailing a clear code of conduct.

Here are some suggestions:

•  It is immaterial who the person is; be it a politician or bureaucrat or businessman or sportsperson, or an activist. The eligibility should be restricted to persons of proven integrity, exemplary conduct in public life and higher levels of competence to manage and lead the team and reasonable expertise in the area of sports.
•  There should be a fixed tenure and should not be eligible for re-appointment.
•  In case of any allegation of conflict of interest, the onus should be shifted to the functionary to disprove the allegations with clear evidence.
•  The body should consist of representatives who satisfy above criteria and should necessarily have sufficient representation from important categories of sports.
•  The National Sports Bill, which is yet to be passed by the Parliament, should be reformulated.
•  Politicians who are saddled with  ministerial responsibilities should not be permitted to head the body.
•  Sportspersons and others who are selected for the post should give a declaration that they or their close relatives or associates do not have any  pecuniary interest that has any remote connection with the performance of roles and functions associated.
•  There should be a comprehensive cost and system audit and the report should be tabled in Parliament. The auditors should not be eligible for reappointment.

Concluding note

Thus, I would like to conclude my discussion stressing that, the posts of heads of sports bodies, instead of reserving only to the sportspersons, can be given to any person who has proved his integrity, core competence, administrative efficiency, and inspirational leadership traits.

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This post has been published by me as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs