Management lessons from Driving-6

Here goes one more Blog posting on Management Lessons from Driving and it also happens to be my 100th Blog posting. Hope you would enjoy reading it. 

# Accountability – It’s all about taking accountability for what you do – be it in driving or in your executive role.

I remember a joke that read a very long time ago wherein two friends are driving back home after the party and one guys say to the other..

Dude.. We are fully drunk and you are not actually supposed to be driving. So you need to be very careful while driving. Should you need any help, do feel free to wake me up. Because I am going to take a nap now.

The other guy says: Dude. It’s not me who is actually driving the car. It’s you. Do you realize that??

Being in Driver’s seat is all about assuming accountability for safe driving and you are the only one accountable and no one else.

Similarly, even in Corporate, you are responsible for every decision you take and for every action in your work.  It has to be in the best interest of the Organization. You need to be fully aware of that and carry yourself with utmost accountability.

Let me give a real-time example that talks about taking accountability, owning all the actions including the mess-ups and demonstrating absolute integrity.

GoZoomo is a start-up company started by three IITians couple of years ago and the thought-process behind their Business model was, in the US, three used cars are sold for every new car, whereas in India, it is only one used car for every new car sold. This is in spite of the well-known fact the Indian market is a very very price-conscious market. The major reason attributable to this is the lack of trust in the pre-owned car segment, ie., you don’t have a clue about the car that you are buying, whether the car is stolen, the documents for genuine or forged etc.,

So they wanted to crack the “Trust-factor” in their Business model wherein cars inspected and verified by GoZoomo only will be listed.  The business went on well however, they had a problem that dragged the Business down. The problem that GoZoomo faced was they could not standardize the price. Their pricing was comparatively higher than the vehicles listed in OLX or Quikr.  The buyers preferred such vehicles without realizing the hidden problems with such vehicles. This resulted in delayed transactions and eventually, it killed GoZoomo.

The CEO of this start-up had millions of dollars in the Bank funded by top VCs.  However, having realized that this model is not matured yet in India and they will continue to incur loss, the CEO decides to shut down the operations and retune the money to VCs instead of toying with new ideas or continuing any further and making the loss bigger.

I think this talks volumes about taking responsibility for what you do, even though you don’t have anyone right after you or even though you are not questioned by the other stake holders.

To sum up, it’s all about taking responsibility for what you do, be in it driving or in your work especially when something goes wrong. No one else can be blamed.

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Management lessons from Driving-5

I though I can write few more points on the topic - Management lessons. Hope you would enjoy reading it. Do check and leave your comments. 

# Which is more important – Engine or the Nuts; production or Marketing?

Which is more important? The engine said I am the heart of the car and without me, the automobile will be immobilized. The brake said, without me, every car will end up meeting with an accident and the heart which is right in the front the car will be the first one to get crushed. So every component had its own justification for being important and everyone decides that nuts are the least important components in the car.

So the nut thought, let me know show you all how important I am and it decides to give up when the car is at its full speed.

It was no more holding the wheels tight and all the wheels came off and starting running in different direction.

Then the reality struck that each and every component is important and they are expected to work in harmony, not to fight who is bigger or who is more important. This was beautifully narrated by Swami Dayananda Saraswathi in one of his speeches.

So, which function is more important in the Organization?  I still remember the debate that I heard when I was a trainee. Two people from two different functions, one from production and the other one from marketing, were arguing who was more important?

Without marketing, all your products will not move out the Facility, said the Marketing guy.

Without production, you will have nothing to market and sell. You will not get your pay cheque. Said the production guy.

But, in reality, every function is important and they are expected to understand the bigger picture and work in harmony. 

When you have a client meeting, on that important day, if the admin / facility guys has not ensured the rest room is clean, it will stink. If they have not ensured that there is enough fuel in the generator, you will be in for a big unpleasant surprise in case of any power cut. You would not want your Business presentation to be stopped or disturbed due to power cuts.

So there is no function which is bigger or more important. Every function has got its own roles to play to achieve the Business goals. Let us appreciate and respect it.

# You will scrap your new car one day – You would leave this world one day – But Let us enjoy the journey and make it count.

All the scrapped cars were once Brand new cars and all Brand news cars will be scrapped one day. But we always enjoy journey and make it count / make the journey worth it.

Similarly, the eventual destination for all of us is our graveyard.  100 years from now, except a few, all of us would have hit our destination. Keeping this simple fact in mind will helps us carry ourselves with humility and respect & treat other equally, not just at workplace but everywhere in our life. This will help us put our priorities effectively in terms of what we want to do with our life Let us enjoy the journey and more than that, let us make it count and worth it.

This might sound little philosophical, yet it makes lots of sense and puts everything into right perspective. 

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Skills of effective Recruiters

In this posting, I am going to write about certain important skills required for a recruiter. Recruitment is often thought to be one of the easiest job but in reality, it’s one of the challenging and critical jobs.

As a recruiter, you don’t just forward job spec, get some CVs from your vendors and line up the candidates. If it’s just that, it’s a post-man’s job and there is no value addition from HR or recruitment perspective.

But it’s just not that and much more than that.

So what more an effective recruiter does or what more you need to know and do to be an effective recruiter?

Let us look at some of the important skills that any good recruiter should necessarily have and try to refine & hone such skills on an on-going basis.

# Business knowledge: This is the first and foremost skill that you need to have. You need to know the Business that you (your company) specializes in, Business specific skills required for various roles and at various levels across the Organization. You need to know your competitors, they hiring models & practices, comp & Ben policies etc., It’s not for copying for what they do but for you to know where you stand, ie., are you ahead of them or behind them.

#Network: Networking is all about knowing all the relevant stake holders that you need to know to get things done effectively and quickly. Wider and bigger the network, the easier it is to tap and identify that talent that you are looking for.

It’s another important skill that any recruiter should necessarily have. What a riffle is to a solder, networking is to a good recruiter. So if you don’t have a good network, you are like a soldier without a riffle.

For example, when you want to initiate campus connect programs with colleges, a recruiter who has good rapport with all the placement officers of your target colleges can drive your initiative much more effectively than someone with poor network.

With good network, you can easily accomplish what hundred follow-ups cannot do.

That’s why, as far as recruitment role goes, it’s always a good idea hire someone from the same region with good network rather than an out-station candidate

Expertise and Consulting role: When you get a job spec for a particular position, you just cannot immediately start sourcing or give it to your vendor.

You need to review it with the Manager concerned (the one who gives the job spec) and you should be able to evaluate it in terms of availability of such talent in the market, its demand in the market, cost range etc. and you should be able to refine the job specs. You may suggest to your Manager as to what needs to be defined as a mandatory skill and optional skills

This is the first step for effective sourcing and if the spec is incorrect, all the sourcing efforts will go waste and you would lose the precious time. Your sourcing effectiveness depends a lot on how clear

# Culture: No recruiter will look for the best candidate, rather he will look for the right candidate not just in terms of skills but in terms of cultural fitment and adaptability. The recruiter should understand the culture of his  organization in terms of certain behavioral traits and values required and look for such qualities in the prospective new hires. You should also know how to assess those qualities through effective behavioral interviews.

A good recruiter needs to have certain behavioral traits necessarily such as

Very good interpersonal skills and consulting skills - as you would have to work with many people probably at sr. levels and suggest changes without rubbing them on the wrong side,

Result-orientation since recruitment is also like marketing in a way that you need to close all the positions within the SLA. What matters more is the results than the efforts.

Very good co-ordination skills as you need to co-ordinate with many stake holders internally and externally as well.

Hope this posting was information. Do share your feedback and comments.

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Management lessons from Driving-4

Here goes one last write-up on the same topic, Management lessons from Driving. Hope you would enjoy reading it.

# Changing gears and learning – both are step by step process

You are in a hurry and to drive fast, can you start with 5^th gear?

No. It’s not possible.

You need to start with 1^st gear and then change the gear up. It’s a step-by-step process.

Similarly, to give an example, you cannot become an effective communicator or leader overnight.

Any skill that you need to develop is also a step-by-step process and it goes though the competency development cycle. There is no shortcut to it and you need to be prepared to pull up your sleeves and work hard. That’s how you can reach the 5^th gear, your peak performance.

# Maintain a safe distance with other vehicles and your colleagues too.

A reasonable distance is better to maintain for a safety and any breach will not always result in accident. But when an accident take places, it could be due to breach of this distance.

At workplace, you need to work as a team players and you need to do everything possible and required as a team member. But, what you need to understand is your office colleagues are colleagues not your friends. There is a world of difference between these two and you need to know what you can share and what you shall not share with your colleague on the personal front.

When you do this, you don’t turn a good colleague into a bad friend and a good colleague continues to be a good colleague. It’s good for you, for your team and the Organization.

# Indicators and our work-style – both needs to be Proactive

Indicators need to be used proactively, not at the time of taking a turn, so you give sufficient notice to the others driving along on the road. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose.

Similarly, even at workplace, you need to be proactive and anticipate bottlenecks to finishing your project, find solutions and finish the project on time.  Reactive approach will not serve the purpose and it will show you as a poor executive or Manager. Let us be proactive.

# Vehicle maintenance and skill improvement – both are continuous process and not a one-time affair

You will always be in for a surprise, a bad surprise if you don’t maintain your car on a periodic basis. You would not know when your car will stop or it can stop when you need it the most.

Similarly, you need to keep building your competencies required to succeed in your career. It’s said that you need to keep running to stay where you are. Competency building is a continuous process and not a one-time affair.

# You need to fill gas however busy you are

Let us say you have a pressing priority that cannot wait but you realize that fuel is less in your car.

Guess what, you would have stop the car in the nearby fuel bunk and if you don’t fill gap, the vehicle will stop, even if it were to be Lamborghini.

So this takes a first priority over your pressing priority that you thought cannot wait. 

Similarly, however busy you are on the professional front, there are certain things that you need to necessary take care of on the personal front like Your Health, your family, work-life balance and things that are closer to your heart – hobby that you are passionate about. These are things that fuel our motivation and morale. This help us charge our batteries to perform much more effectively at workplace and both are equally important. One cannot be at the cost the other. It’s all about prioritizing.

So let us charge out Batteries on an on-going basis.

Hope you enjoyed reading this series of postings.  Do share your feedback and comments. 

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