Global Initiatives

What should one keep in mind when planning large scale initiatives across multiple countries involving possibly thousands of people?  

I think there are 3 key things to look at:

·       What should be overall key goals? You can’t factor in all goals. Usually you mayn’t be able to focus on more than 2-3 goals at a time.

·       Why will it make sense for different stakeholders to make the initiative a priority?

·       How will you set up and co-ordinate execution mechanism?

These are my initial thoughts as I start off work in this space. More to come! J

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Sourav

Innovation Skills Teams Need to Succeed

Came across this very interesting video where authors talk about innovation skills needed for teams to succeed.

 

They differentiate between 3 kind of professionals at workplace - innovators, executors, and developers (who can do both innovation and execution).

 

They then goes on to list 5 skills that innovators have (questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and association), and 4 that executors have (analyzing, planning, self discipline, and detail oriented).

 

Leaves you with interesting thoughts. Give it a see!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy4oQh_Qyto

 

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Sourav

Need for a Pause during Change

You are in midst of an adrenalin pumping, emotionally involving, and intellectually stimulating change period.

How should you respond to brief sub-periods of inactivity or pause during such times? Rather, should you be actively keeping aside such ‘pause times’ during change periods?

I contend you should keep aside such ‘pause times’.

It helps you re-calibrate, re-prioritize, re-focus, and re-energize yourself.

Now let me take this a step further. Should this only be at individual level or should you be extending this to teams/groups too?

I think teams/groups also need to find a space for ‘pausing’ and re-energizing themselves. Just having a bit of fun might provide a good outlet for anxiety involved in process.

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Sourav

HR Business Partnership

We talk a lot about HR being a strategic partner to the business. But what are bedrocks that enable you to become a valuable partner?

Here are my experiences:

1)      Trust –business leaders and leadership team and you need to have a ‘trusting partnership’. You can start partnership with a default ‘trust’ status and then build on it through interactions and through early successes/joint work.

2)      Business understanding – if you have a understanding of business strategies, goals, challenges – and you are plugged into business rhythms – then you are perceived as ‘in boat’ with them. I am not asking you to become a ‘native’ – you are a partner and should have sufficient space to disagree or bring in your neutral perspective when required. But as old saying goes ‘To change the system, you gotta be in the system’.

3)      Networks – you should have a working relationship with important stakeholders in and outside business. This overlaps with trust angle but has its own space too. This is more to do with your ability to influence eco-system to get the work done.

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Sourav

Who am I?

-          is a very pertinent question!

We strive to define our ‘identity’.  Our experiences, our aspirations, those around us, ecosystem we live in – all contribute to our definition of ‘our identity’.

Identity is a ‘who’ question. Downstream it impacts ‘why’ question (our values), and behavior implications (how, what, and when).

Defining our identity can be empowering, but in certain conditions limiting.  I experience and sometimes observe a tendency to delve into our past and look at our present to define ‘our identity’. While that brings about understanding, it also runs risk of bringing about rationalization and a resistance to change.

For us to create a future which we desire, we need to give up somethings of our past.

So ensure that you are factoring in enough of your aspirations into your identity.

That will make for a more complete and possibly satisfying answer to question ‘Who am I?’

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Sourav

Communities at Work

What is place at work for communities? 

 

With our workplaces becoming more ‘virtual’ and ‘spread out’, there’s a fair chance that those with similar skills/specialties may not have opportunity to be co-located and or meet frequently.

 

Communities can be an effective way to ensure that these common interest/skill/specialty groups work towards a common goal.

 

There are a few principles that might help in ensuring an effective community:

·       Community needs to shape, drive, and own its agenda.  Hence it is important that most of the planning and execution is done by team/sub-team members.

·       Community will have need for resources, organization champions, and/or alignment with work in organization. It helps if community has sponsorship of a senior leader.

·       Way community functions is more in realm of group functioning than of subject matter knowledge. Having a HR partner who can provide a SME perspective on group functioning can help.

·       The scope of work needs to be relevant for individual team members. Outcomes of work should be something which team members can implement in some form or the other when they go back to their day jobs.

What’s been your experience with effective communities?

 

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Sourav

 

A Good Read – Mc Gregor!

Well! When you come across a good read, you can’t let go off the book.

Douglas Mc Gregor is known for his work on Theory X and Y. I have been reading his seminal work ‘The Human Side of Enterprise’.

For the first half, the book trudges along. Like me, if you have read about and have some kind of a grasp of motivation theories then this part may not provide you any new insight.

In second half, the book really lights up. Mc Gregor delves into application of Theory Y in different contexts – staff-line relationships, development of managers, leadership style, HR processes (incentive plans, performance systems), and effective/non-effective teams.

I can safely say it is one of the best HR works I have read in recent times. Given I am in midst of partnering new leaders- I took away really valuable inputs on ‘staff-line’ relationships.

Certainly recommend this book. Do give it a read!

 

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Sourav

Organizational Change

There are times when change is more top down driven and the perceived need for it may not be immediately obvious within organization, e.g. – when change is necessitated primarily by changes in environment and there’s a quick need for response.

How do you ensure that organizational change efforts stay on track during such times?

A few things can help:

·       A shared understanding of what are change outcomes being targeted. These need to be something that’s easily understood.

·       A deeper level understanding of what’s needed to change at individual level. If you feel powerless in entire change, then you just flow along.

·       Frequent communication on progress against change, and frequent re-iteration of change objectives.

·       Some celebration. Organization change can be hard. Celebrations when key milestones are reached can be a motivation booster.

 

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Sourav

HRBP - Partnering Leaders

In a HRBP role, you partner senior leaders. Why should they see you as a valuable partner?

If as a HRBP you are thinking about what will give you success or satisfaction, you are on wrong track. At best you will be tolerated.  You need to think ‘what’s right for business?’ and need to be perceived as ‘thinking about business’.

As a HR partner, you are going to have sometimes sensitive/confidential conversations with leaders. These conversations can only happen in a ‘safe space’.   Hence think of how to build ‘trust’ in partnership.

With different leaders, different styles of partnering work. Some like to use you as a sounding board, some prefer getting recommendations, some are more action oriented, some prefer thinking through problems before acting.  You need to spend time with leaders in various forms – individual meetings, staff meetings, town halls, etc  - to start understanding what style of partnership might work with him/her.

These are some of principles I find relevant when I partner leaders.

What are principles you use? What’s been your experience?

 

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Sourav

An Onboarding Mindset

In previous posts, I have talked about how an onboarding process can be created – a process that meets both aims of organization and onboarding individual.

But there’s an important piece in entire jigsaw – what ‘mindset’ should onboarding individual approach onboarding process with?  Crack this piece- and you might have set up lever that will ensure onboarding process stays on track.

Here are a few pointers on ‘an onboarding mindset’:

·         Its OK not to be OK: There will be extended periods of uncertainty/learning anxiety. You need to live with it. If you are relocating cities/countries, then add in the entire personal transition piece. Uncertainty might last for months – and even for a year. There’s no way out. You need to get comfortable with being ‘NOT OK’.

·         Student Mindset: 

o   Be curious to learn. Don’t let your past experience color your experience of new environment. Different is not necessarily bad. When you find something different, ask yourself ‘Why might it be this way? How might it make sense in current environment?’. You may not get answer immediately but stay at it.

o   At same time, keep on questioning what doesn’t make sense.

Essence basically is to keep a balance.

·         Professional mindset:

o   Figure out what are expectations from your job. Focus on identifying what uniquely you can bring to job that can create maximum impact for organization. Think of what are least ‘nuts and bolts’ you need to know to start performing on your job.

o   You are not alone. Identify and contract with those who will help you in onboarding process. A professional is not necessarily an ‘expert’. S/he’s focus is on effective outcomes. S/he’s not worried about being known as SME/expert – who should have all answers – or should have necessarily ‘owned’ entire piece.   A professional say ‘Thank You’, ‘I Need Help’, and ‘I am Sorry’ – when required.

o   Focus on building trust in important partnerships/relationships. That’s lubricant which will later ensure speed in these partnerships/relationships.

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Sourav

Talent

What ‘time horizon’ should you leaders look at when ‘identifying and developing talent’? Longer term, obviously!  A longer term focus is certainly a greater than 1 year focus.

But then how do leaders react when a ‘talent’ has an average performance year? Usually there seems to be a tendency to de-select person from ‘talent list’.

Leaders place their ‘talent’ in challenging/next generation roles. There will be some hits. There will be some misses too – but that’s obvious because these roles are at forefront of shaping what company might be wanting to do in longer term.

But leaders need to back your ‘talent’ through highs and lows. I am not talking about backing them through continued failure. But they certainly need to have backing through periodic troughs – or when a critical project is going through a challenging phase.

Else an organization, in long run, might end up with a weak internal pipe of candidates for leadership roles. Those who are ‘leadership talent’ will not have survived. Those who are not ‘leadership talent’ might have survived through not taking risks.

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Sourav

Hacking Culture

How do you ‘hack culture’? You might first ask me what ‘hacking culture’ means.

 

Well! It’s about creating a significantly different, and not an incremental, vision of culture – and finding non-traditional ways to move towards that vision.

 

Now, let’s get back to ‘how’ question.

 

You could use 2 different approaches to ‘hack culture’.

 

On one hand, you could get a large group of diverse people in a room – and ask them to throw caution to wind and come up with innovative ideas. In this approach, you are providing no structure/tools to think innovatively.

 

On other hand, you could provide people in room some structure/tools to help them start thinking differently.

 

First approach may work in a situation where team itself brings very diverse perspectives to table –probably because of their diverse backgrounds. Secondly team members are accustomed to a lot of change – and hence will not be too wedded on to the current culture.

 

Second approach may work in a situation where people in room might have very similar thoughts/ideas - probably because of similar backgrounds. Secondly team members might have a seen a long period of certainty – and so are probably emotionally attached to the current culture.

 

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Sourav

Outcomes

The other day I was reading a book by Peter Drucker. He made a point about ‘efforts’ v/s ‘outcomes’. ‘Efforts’ are only thing that exist within an organization. On other hand, 'outcomes' lie outside organization.  Outcomes matter and we need to hold people accountable for outcomes.

 

Ensuring focus on ‘outcomes’ is easier said than done. Every outcome can be seen as a mean to some other outcome/end. So how do you decide a particular 'outcome' is actually an outcome and not just a mean?

 

I think you can’t decide this post facto. The only way to ensure that correct outcomes are being targeted and met is through ‘goal setting’ rout – ensuring goal setting focuses on outcomes and performance progress is assessed against agreed upon outcomes.

 

Similarly, there needs to be a very definite linkage between outcome achievement and reward allocation.

 

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Sourav

 

 

Learnability

You must have heard term ‘transfer of learning’ in relation to classroom programs.  Initially this term used to appeal to me.

But over a period of time I started realizing a few things.

First, the term ‘transfer of learning’’ gives a sense that you start thinking about how learning could be transferred to workplace only once you have completed learning something. But I consistently find that ‘learning’ and ‘application’ are not necessarily different parts of process.

Rather, I find the notion of tying together ‘learning’ and ‘application’ and approaching entire process through lens of ‘relevance’ more powerful. I call this process ‘application of learning’ and not ‘transfer of learning’. 

Now you may say that I am talking about ‘learning on the job’. That’s surely one aspect of it! But you can simulate ‘applications’ in learning from others and learning in classroom settings too.  

Frankly, what I find consistently is that source of learning can be anything – a great read, an insightful conversation, observing someone inspirational, etc.  Only important questions to ask are ‘how is this relevant to my context? What are 2-3 things that I can take away and implement?’.

So entire process needs to be seen as an integrated one - with a focus on ‘relevant learning’ that leads to ‘relevant application’ –which in turn leads to desired ‘outcomes’. Secondly, you need to start seeing learning possibilities in any situation/experience.

Once you were to build a discipline around, you might start finding that your ‘learnability’ has significantly improved.

 

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Sourav

VUCA

Somedays back I came across a new term VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) which supposedly characterizes present economic environment worldwide.

What might a VUCA environment mean for mindset a company adopts to deal with environment?

On one hand, it could trigger fear and lead to ‘defending your territory’ actions.

On contrary, companies could start focusing on becoming better at adapting to change.

But companies could also choose path of seeing change as an opportunity – and pursuing, shaping, and exploiting these opportunities.

Which option should your company choose?

I think answer is context specific.  Answer could be different for different companies and different for same company at different points of time.

Intuitively though, principle of ‘if you can’t avoid something it might be better to enjoy yourself at it’ might be applicable here.

So 3^rd option – of seeing ‘change as an opportunity’ – might be better go-to option in most cases during these ‘VUCA’ times.

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Sourav

North Star

You have been creating and getting plans executed over a 1 year time frame.  But given nature of task, you need focus to be much more longer term.

How do you go about creating this longer term focus while maintaining current year focus too?

You could create a ‘North Star’ – that team will work towards in longer run. Flip side of this is that only intention might not lead to actions needed today to move towards ‘North Star’.

On other hand, you could ensure alignment of yearly plans to ‘North Star’. That will ensure there is some ‘coupling’ of yearly plans to ‘North Star’.

Maybe this is a good approach to start integrating a longer term focus into yearly plans.

Once this approach has got seeded in, you might want to start building ‘scenarios’/’milestones’ – how will outcomes look like periodically – 1/2/3 years down the line? What should be focus in year 2, year 3, etc?

So while you have stronger execution plans in place for current year, you start building execution plans in place for other years – with space for periodic check-ins – to evaluate whether there’s a need for change in year 2/3 plans.

In all of this, there’s a consistent assumption. ‘If task at hand requires a longer term focus, then that focus should get reflected in your shorter term execution plans too’.

Balancing this dichotomy of shorter term v/s longer term is turning out to be very interesting. J

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Sourav

 

Transitions

Currently I am in midst of a ‘transition’ at work.  I have been thinking about ‘how do I ready myself for next role while keeping focus on current role’.

Then I realize we face a related challenge throughout our work lives and possibly our lives itself - ‘How do you manage current while preparing base for future?’. There might be some additional elements involved in a role transition – building up new relationship networks, understanding a new context, etc. But more or less approach should be similar.  It also with right focus should be doable.

Here are few thoughts on how to approach a significant role transition at work:

·         Build a short term plan – 30/60 day plan – with milestones.

·         Focus on how you could ready yourself better even before landing in role. So an element of pre-work might be necessary.

·         Keep aside time periodically (possibly every week in the first month) to reflect on what you achieved against milestones and where you need to course correct.

·         Remember 3 quadrants of onboarding – networks (trust and working partnership with stakeholders), contribution (early successes), and learning (nuts and bolts of job).

·         Prepare for being uncomfortable. In first few months, you may be passing through zones of Unconscious Incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know) to Conscious Incompetence (you know what you don’t know) to Conscious Competence. Be intentional, stick to your efforts, and don’t let uncertainty impact you too much. It should pay off.

·         As for current role, contract with your current stakeholders on what you will achieve in your remaining few weeks/months in current role. It is important that you leave still feeling on a high.

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Sourav

Teamwork and Collaboration

How does one move an organization from a culture of ‘individual heroism’ to one of ‘teamwork and collaboration?

Let’s assume that there’s enough leadership momentum to ensure the change kicks off.  Hence there is sufficient dis-satisfaction with current state, there is a concrete enough vision of future, and first concrete steps have been identified.

Using a change management lens, you will further need to:

·         WHAT - Identify performance Metrics and Execution Plan– think of the change as a project.

o   What are some of key metrics/milestones you want to measure and track?  Given we are talking of culture change, these metrics can both be ‘observable behavior changes – in individuals/teams’ and ‘business outcomes’.

o   What’s execution plan including RACI? Do you want a week/month/quarter wise execution plan?

·         WHY - Identify changes in attitudes, beliefs, and mindsets required – Our views on teamwork and collaboration are strongly shaped by our upbringing and education. Further our workforces are diverse in nature.  It is important to converse with employees on what are prevailing attitudes, beliefs, and mindsets, identify ones that are limiting, and agree on new ones that need to be pursued.  

o   E.g. – An Individual Heroism culture might be based on belief ‘I can win it on my own’. On other hand, a more collaborative culture might be based on belief ‘2 minds and/or 2 hands always work better than 1’.

A powerful way of ‘anchoring’ this conversation is through examples of how old/new beliefs have played out in failures/successes in similar other companies/situations/sports, etc.

·         HOW - Identify Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities – employees/teams will need to make shift.

·         WHAT - Identify role of Leaders and Managers and hold them accountable for it –

o   What role should these 2 critical role holders play? Do you want them to set the tone, role model, encourage, and/or reward appropriately?

o   Frequent communication is a critical aspect of entire change process. What kind of communication plan do you want to have for leaders and managers?  ‘Examples’ and ‘success stories’ can provide further clarity and positive momentum to change process.

·         WHAT - Roles and Responsibilities – how will these change for individuals and teams?

·         WHAT – Assimilation –for any group/team which needs to be restructured as part of change efforts – there additionally needs to be a focus on their assimilation into new group/teams.

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Sourav

Onboarding Leaders

Will onboarding a leader require a different/additional/modified focus compared to onboarding any other employee?

I don’t think so. If onboarding were to be defined both as onboarding (into role) and induction (into company), then these will be required to be focused on for any new employee including a new leader.

But HR might need to play a more involved role in onboarding leaders.

In case of IC employees or managers, there are enough systems and informal feedback mechanisms in place for employee to understand how s/he is inducting into company. HR will check in on health of induction – but it is mostly periodic check ins.

In case of leaders, feedback may not come in diluted from below hierarchy. Secondly there may not be many role models leader can refer to – leadership positions may be lonely positions J. So leader does need a frame of comparison (with other successful leaders –present/previous) and a way of getting feedback (in a non –threatening space).

These 2 are specific ways in which HR can play a required more involved role in onboarding leaders.

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Sourav

The Challenger!

I remember seeing a rivetting long distance race during my school days.

Vipin led the race going into last lap. Arnab had been intentionally trailing behind him for most part of the race. Vipin could not run at his own pace as he was not sure when Arnab would overtake him. Arnab could choose his pace depending on what Vipin did.  When last lap started, Vipin looked a bit nervous and edgy. Arnab looked confident and composed. Finally Arnab won the race.

Sometimes, been second in the race is advantageous. It gives you headway to choose your pace and time your actions to beat the competition.

But will this challenger mindset always lead to success - especially in an organizational context?

The above mindset anchors challenger to competition. I think while one needs to keep an eye on competition, efforts primarily need to be anchored around consumer. If that’s done, then even when challenger becomes market leader – it can be more surefooted about how its actions translate to organization success.

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Sourav

Note: I have changed both names in this post to protect identity of individuals J

Customer Centricity

Every organization talks of need to be customer centric.

How do employees who are not in customer interfacing roles understand necessary call for action from them?  Here are some options:

·         You can obviously have leaders state asks from different teams. But this may not lead to inspiration/motivation as you are just following asks and not necessarily seeing link between ‘asks’ and final impact for ‘customer’.

·         You educate employees on how different customer/marketing related terms/concepts relate to product/service, e.g. – how 4Ps of marketing relate to your product/service, what drives repurchase decisions of your products/services.

·         Sharing customer stories from different context/scenarios - how is your product/service actually getting used in different customer scenarios?  

I find second and third option more powerful. It increases chances of ‘meaning making’ by employees – figuring out for themselves how their work could contribute to enhanced customer experience.  Since we find our own meaning - our commitment to actions will usually be higher too.

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Sourav

Change, Change, Change

Last year, at start of winter, I was at Great Wall of China. I was prepared for chilly cold but then strong icy winds took me by surprise. I was in for a rude shock when I tried making my way through a small tunnel gate and realized that wind behind me was making me run.  On my way back, I knew I will have wind against me and will have to make quite an effort to get on other side of tunnel gate. I took some time to gather my breath and then ran through tunnel gate with wind hurtling against me. But I managed to make it to other side. I went to the nearest shop, with watery eyes and stone cold hands, and ordered a HOT CHOCOLATE (those who know me will know that I never usually have HOT CHOCOLATE). But I did that day, because I needed body heat.

So what’s the point? Why am I recounting this instance?

When you come across a changed situation, you need to be able to keep your composure, gauge what’s different, plan your reaction, and react. Sometimes you need to do things that you usually will not do.

But calmness and composure are essential to maintain through change. If I had lost these two on that day, it might have taken me much more effort and consequences could have been much more difficult to undo.

Maintain calm and composure through change. It might actually help in being responsive, adaptive, and decisive.  That’s my point!

 

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Sourav

 

Networks

In organizations, networks are important!

But are they really important? What kind of different networks you might have? How do networks get built and expanded?

I have been doing a bit of work on networks over last few months and have been surprised at some of learnings:

1)      Be intentional about your network. Who do you need to reach out to and why?  Do you need information, a stretch opportunity, mentoring/guidance, advice, a career change, etc?  Be clear yourself and state need clearly.

2)      Think beyond your immediate reporting relationships. Matrix organizations provide you opportunity to leverage networks which are not necessarily hierarchy driven.

3)      Getting introductions/references are good launchpads for initial connects.

4)      Networks need acknowledgement. Someone will have spent his/her discretionary time on you. You must acknowledge and thank person for that!

5)      Keep your network active. Once you have established connect – even if there’s no immediate need – periodically touch-base with network and keep connections alive.

6)      Credibility is built over a period of time. But it is an important ingredient for ensuring your network works for you. Without credibility, an expanded network might provide you wrong visibility and might backfire.

7)      Networks can help you gain a different perspective on your stated objective – in ways that can be eye opening. It can be a good idea to dip into your network for gaining this alternative perspective on things.

I am slowly becoming more convinced of need to and benefits of intentionally growing and maintaining your network.

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Sourav

 

 

Transitions

We usually use terms induction and onboarding in context of new joiners to companies. But these terms do have relevance to even employees transitioning across roles.

What all might be important to look at when we consider employees transitioning across roles?

There needs to be a focus on:

·         Effective transitioning off from current role:

o   There needs to be a focus on effective hand over of responsibilities to new/stand-in incumbent.

o   Every team also needs to re-center itself when there is a change in team member.  

·         Effectively onboarding into new role:

o   There needs to be a focus on role readiness. This will be a combination of learnings required, contributions (early successes) that give a boost to confidence, and establishing networks required for role.

·         Effectively inducting into new team/org sub-cultures – need for team to re-center itself with new team member.

All of these steps can be facilitated through processes.

How is this different from onboarding and inducting a new joiner to company? It is different in sense that in second case one also needs to factor in ‘inducting into company’.

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Sourav

Managing Change

Change management involves initiating change, sustaining change through change process, and realizing results.

Formula for change ( D*V*F>R) provided a framework on how to initiate change process.

But what frameworks can you use for change process?

Organizational change itself gets complicated through interplay of a number of variables- a) time period during which change progresses can extend across months/years; b) you need to be able to transition while maintaining focus on short term results, and c) working through resistance and /or maintaining momentum/energy/motivation - as people are invariably a large part of change equation.

Framework I've used to sustain change through change process involves 4 key components:

1) Choose 3-4 key objectives and metrics (quantitative/qualitative)that have buy in of key decision makers.

Limit number to not  more than 3-4 to ensure that maximum attention is devoted to objectives and metrics that matter.

2) What are key behaviors that you want changed from key stakeholders? What will new behaviors look like (an outcome of a discussion on what success might look like)? Behaviors are observable and at end of day any 'below surface' change should get manifested in changes in behavior.

3) Hold leaders accountable for driving change. Have a team that program manages change. Institute RACI for different stakeholders.

An important part of the entire exercise is communication. Along with focusing on what and how, communications should also focus on why. Once people are onboard on why, resistance might lessen and progress in what and how becomes simpler.

4) Have an execution plan in place for a defined period (eg- 1 year). Check in at agreed times on progress against execution plan.

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Sourav