Raj Shankar's Blog, page 63

Quick Returns And Innovation

While it is globally acknowledged that the future belongs to organizations that can innovate – the vast majority of the emerging companies are still struggling with making innovation work. Why is it so?

The predominant reason is with the measures of performance. Historically when a firm has been very performance driven, then that becomes a culture. In every action of the firm, the inherent expectation of performance and metrics get embedded. When an innovation program gets initiated, it is natural for such a firm to extrapolate the existing measures that it uses for its mature business for measuring success of the innovation program. While I am not suggesting even for a minute that innovation programs or efforts should not have measures associated; what creates problem is when measures applicable to existing and mature businesses are extended to the innovation program which is predominantly exploratory in dynamics.

One of the ways to re-look at this is to set clear expectations from the innovation program. If the CxO level team sets the right strategic expectations from the program, then leaders from the execution layers can create appropriate program structures with the right measures that don’t stifle performance. When innovation experiments fail, organization programs must have the right routines to handle them. This should be in such a way that they have to encourage the employee to re-join the innovation program again. This is one of the biggest challenges in many institutions.

One of the companies that approached us for innovation services, had in place an innovation program, which was not as effective as the CEO expected. When we analyzed their program, we found while many of the initial program set-up routines were appropriate, the parameters of success as defined for the innovation program was very short sighted. Instead of encouraging experimentation, the metrics were highly result oriented in terms of short-term gains. This prevented many good ideas and experimentation to take off in the system. The focus on ROI was stifling free thinking.

A good innovation program encourages experimentation but has a set of check gates that are able to spot and further meaningful ideas in a systematic manner. Innovation programs must have staged review so as to exact maximum participation. As more people participate in the program, the ideas must be validated in stages and moved to the next stage with adequate support of resources. Success in an innovation program comes from open appreciation to the willingness to experiment, coupled with a keen intuition on identifying aligned proposals and providing them with concrete support in terms of resource and time. And there is no defined time frame when it comes to gestation period of an innovation program, however it can definitely be catalyzed. Senior management require patience and long-term commitment if they want to benefit from their innovation programs in the true spirit of the game!

Vedantic Wednesday : Detachment Not Indifference

Many times in life when we listen to philosophy the first lesson that we are spoken to about is objectivity. Since objectivity is so closely associated with rationality, philosophers ask us to treat things as they are. This approach should reduce the impact that objects and situations have on us. Almost all the time the above message is loud and clear but is most often misunderstood. People assume that the best way to be detached to objects, beings and situations is to be disconnected. So they tend to move to the extreme of being indifferent to people and situations.

This is exactly the opposite of what Vedanta teaches us. Vedanta urges all of us to reach and practice a state of heightened sensitivity to things, people and situation. By realising all of us are mere manifestation of the same power – we automatically develop a sense of compassion and empathy. So when we see any other being; be it human, animals or plant undergo any suffering our heart goes out to them and we jump into action to alleviate the pain. We can never be indifferent once we understand the philosophy of Vedanta.

Surprisingly the sense of detachment also arises out of this same heightened level of sensitivity. While as stated above we are pushed to act because we are sensitive to the fact that we are all just one; we are also aware that nothing can destroy, hurt  or even thrill the eternal spirit which in itself is complete at all times. So while we remain in action – we are detached when it comes to results. We always do our bit without doubt or questions, with complete involvement – but continue to stay detached from the outcome. As we realise nothing can affect the spirit that is within.

For many of us dissociating ourselves from outcome/result is very difficult. It is much easier for us to refrain from actions that lead to these results or outcomes. Hence our inability to dissociate ourselves from outcome; causes us to retract from acting in any situation- making us inert and indifferent. We blissfully continue feigning indifference under the guise of being detached and hence realised!

The day we understand the difference between detachment and indifference, we would take another small step in attaining our supreme goal!

Are You Prepared To Grow?

Over the last few weeks I have been having discussions with number of CEOs / Entrepreneurs / Small Business Owners regarding reviewing and validating their strategy documents. Most of the time, the leaders in these businesses know the markets, the customers, the requirements, the opportunities and the solutions amongst other things. However almost every one of them without exception felt, they had much greater potential but were somehow not able to capitalize on it. They could not convert the potential opportunities into real value and leverage it to achieve growth. What was stopping them from scaling?

My humble suggestion to almost every one of them has been to re-look at their business models and their current state. I always tell them, while their entrepreneurial selves are ready for growth, their firms aren’t. They seem perplexed every time I say this – but when we look at the current organization equation and change it to the size to be able to achieve scale, their reaction is surprise followed by stunning realization at their own setup! The dynamics of the projected firm seem unhealthy and unstable; far from what they have visualised their grown up companies would look like.

Once we complete this exercise, most of these smart business owners quickly understand the need to re-organize themselves for growth. Without adequate preparation, growth could become a bigger worry to handle as it pans out.

The next time you think of planning for growth, make sure you spend enough time assessing if the company is organized for growth. If not address it first, then plan!

Interesting Links This Week: 06-Jan-2013

The first week of the new year had brought in a plethora of reads on trends, happenings and predictions. Of those that I cam across this week, some from the past and some more current – these caught my attention. Wishing all of you 51 more weeks of great reads and peace!

2013 -Year of contextual future! An article that provides great insights to what we can expect from the world of data and technology http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20792067

This poster stayed with me much longer than what others do. I know it is not news or information, but one that reflects many of our reactions to deadlines. Sure this would get some of us to smile everytime we look at it http://twitpic.com/7t3q8e

The antidote to the previous poster was something that I came across in this week itself.  The magic of doing one thing at a time.  An article that makes you stop and take a look at your to-do list! http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/03/the-magic-of-doing-one-thing-a.html

Books and Me: What the Plus!

Title: What the Plus! Google Plus for the rest of us

Author: Guy Kawasaki

This short book of fewer than 200 pages is a quick startup guide to Google Plus. With numerous screen shots, pictures and links it is a super quick read. Guy does a lovely job of evangelizing G+. I’m not surprised by the blurb on the back cover by Vic Gundotra, praising Guy to have helped Google in preparing this guide to G+. While so many people claim to be social media experts – Guy is definitely one who can speak on it with authority. His following and popularity on the web, makes a strong case for anyone to learn from him.

The first thing I did post reading the book was join G+. Though I have been on it only for a few days, I can see numerous benefits on staying further on this platform. Interesting stuff such as social search, hangouts, concept of circles and power to choose on social networks, make the platform interesting. The book gives you a clear and to the point help in starting off in Google Plus.

While the best way to learn swimming is to jump into the pool, it makes sense to understand some basics before taking the dive! In a similar fashion, while most people would say its best to jump in to Google Plus and learn it as you go – reading this quick book from Guy can make our experimentation more enjoyable and fruitful.

A couple of chapters by other experts using the medium, make it clear that collaboration is the quickest way to stay relevant in this modern highly networked and fast changing world. Apart from getting the basics on Google Plus, I also took away some tips on being successful in the virtual world. Thanks Guy for this useful guide. Hope to catch up with you on G+ and remain useful to the entrepreneurial community at large!

If you are on Google Plus (or intend to join in) – do join me: https://plus.google.com/106745969186456983831/about

Tomorrow at Shaastra 2013 with Technopreneurs of Tomorrow

For more information look up http://www.shaastra.org

Innovation is all about Removing Restraints!

As we kick start 2013 amidst lot of optimism – many are unable to shake off the silent worry of troubled markets and the continuing impact of recession. The southward trend is slowing down and we are sure the upward move will start, but when, remains the question on everybody’s mind.

While entrepreneurs have always had to work on shoe string budgets to create mind blowing innovations, larger organizations are challenged by existing mindset and cultural barriers to become innovative. Though being creative is being flaunted as one of the most important facets for a business to survive this turbulence, creativity and innovation is one of the most difficult functions for any institution to initiate and sustain.

So what’s stopping Indian small and medium businesses from using innovation to sustain and scale. The biggest challenge is – mindset!  This is not the mindset of the organization at the employee level but it is one at the level of the leaders. Though all CEOs talk about the huge benefit that 3M and Google have derived from giving free time to work on personal interests and institutional interests for the long term, very few organizations are able to implement initiatives like these for themselves. Why?

Because, the mindset of leaders and managers is still ensconced in the old school of thought – ‘Empty mind is a devil’s workshop!’  Leaders and managers are paranoid about people not having allocated work to do. They are paranoid about giving people free time and space within office confines. They are averse to people simply chatting up, talking about future of the firm, tinkering about a possible product / service, surfing and reading online, spending time on social media, etc.

So many managers and leaders actually become innovative in finding ways to keep the workforce busy even through slack time . Very often you will find teams doing inane and non-value add work religiously, rather than exercise free thinking and experimentation.  To this the workforce reacts in a predictable manner.  They become innovative in finding methods to break these monotonous routines and seeking special avenues of escape from mundane. However these efforts are directed toward alleviating the individual’s situation at workplace.

What can happen if the employees are allowed to pursue their interests without any restrictions or expectations? If they are allowed formally to work on things outside of their immediate business without any obligation back to the firm, the ideas that would emerge will often be centered on what could make their work and business better.

Empowering employees to participate in creativity and innovation workshops, enabling them with the necessary tools to be more opportunity and idea prone,  giving them the freedom to experiment without worry and providing them the opportunity to lead those potential projects with small internal investments, can result in huge upside for organizations.

When we conduct the Idea to Opportunity Workshop or the Double Filter Innovation Process Workshop, we have seen firms experience a wave of positive change. Return on investment is always faster and larger than what the management had braced themselves for. A lot of innovation is actually “allowing” – removing restraints and constraints from the daily life of employees. Creating an environment of trust and freedom brings responsibility, when kept within a highly system oriented boundary.

Vedantic Wednesday: Learning to Respond

In today’s world whenever we hear philosophers, they seem archaic! They constantly talk about response and reaction and the difference between them. According to them these two are world apart. And to us this appear as mere play of words.

Very often we find ourselves reacting. The reason why we react and not respond is because something inside us is waiting for a trigger to set off. If you consider your reactions in the recent past, you will realise you have never consciously reacted to a situation. It has always been involuntary. Having doubts? Ok, see if you can consciously work yourself to feel anger. See if you can consciously look at someone in front of you and simply yell. Or think of an earlier situation where you have reacted – and try to feel the same surge of adrenalin. You will find that you can’t.

We never consciously react to a situation. Situations trigger a suppressed feeling (disappointment/frustration etc) that we already hold within ourselves. Reactions are not a conscious set of actions. They are an involuntary, subconscious activity germinating from an earlier experience or a cause. It is only the trigger that is in the present – the cause is in the past. And very often there is seldom any connect between the earlier cause and the present trigger.

What happens when we react? The person who is at the receiving end, views this as an incoherent and unwarranted action from your side. The receiver is surprised and very often your behaviour triggers another reaction in them. As this relay of reactions continues you find yourself getting caught in the quagmire of chaotic and meaningless exchanges. At the end of the duel both parties retire hurt and worn-out. When they sit down alone (assuming they do), they most often realize that they are unable to find any meaning or reason for the bad experience. But the ego in us does not allow us to accept and quickly seek repair. It wants to prove a point. It waits to establish how it is right. Since the egos are actually at play, we simply become vehicles.

Many times in life we face circumstances which bring down our energy levels. This is because of unnecessary and insignificant conversations where the intellect switches itself off. To be able to recover from them and avoid them, we need to be able to avoid reactionary behaviours. The easiest way to do this is to create a simple rule. A rule that will permit you to respond to any situation, that you see as disturbing or unwarranted only after a short duration from receiving the trigger.

That means when your ward walks up with an unreasonable demand, your spouse wants to watch a serial when you are hooked onto a gripping match, when your colleague informs you that the deliverable is yet to be finished, when you find the conductor does not have necessary change, when your maid servant asks for sudden leave, when your friend fails to live upto your expectation or any such situation that is not as per your plan– you will simply postpone any action from your end for a short duration.

You will find that every time you do this; you are switching from the mode of an involuntary reaction to the possible mode of planned response. It is this switch that enables the intellect to guide you, thereby making your decisions and actions better and effective.

Try it! You may actually be at peace with yourself a lot more. And also the world will be at more peace with you!

Lofty Resolutions And The Smaller Resolve!

Its another first day of another new year. Time for a fresh set of resolutions and goal setting. While setting goals that too ambitious ones are important, what makes the real difference are the concrete steps that one takes towards them.

More important than having a list of lofty goals on the first day of the new year, is the small step that we take towards them. The best goal is one where the destination gets defined along with the determination that everyday we will take one step towards achieving it. No mountain was climbed through inconsistent leaps. They were all scaled by taking consistent steps throughout the climb. This resolve to keep moving forward each day is what makes a resolution of ours a reality. The resolve to plough through with a little action every day, towards the pre-set goal is the proven way to realizing results.

So here’s wishing all of you a great 2013 filled with lofty resolutions and the smaller resolve to act on them everyday!

As We Finish 2012

The year 2012 will be remembered as another year that was turbulent. Since the last few years have been so, it does not make it very different. But 2012 is special because it created the largest amount of social uprising around the world. People across the globe, especially in societies such as Asia and Middle East, came out in large numbers to voice their dissent over governance misconducts and sluggishness. The last of these was right here at home. National outrage triggered by the shameful Delhi Gang Rape case wherein the victim suffered, battled all pains only to pass away. It has been a very sad ending to the year.

I was sitting at a coffee shop this afternoon and I realized that I was amongst a boisterous group of young adults having fun over coffee. Since I could not avoid listening to their conversations, I decided to eavesdrop and slip into my college days. However, these young boys were discussing vociferously the Delhi Gang Rape Case. They were very angry over what had happened. They were discussing punishment to be awarded – gunning the persons, stoning in public, hanging by the chin and other gruesome forms of capital punishment. I recollected that I had also come across resentment plastered over facebook today about the same. There were discussions even on boycotting the republic day celebrations.  All of a sudden the conversation in the next table turned to a totally different topic. Party plans for the evening! I was taken aback by the way the emotion of outrage got replaced with casual talk of fun in a matter of seconds.

How serious were these young men about what has happened?  How serious are we as adults?

While we are all making the right kind of noises about getting justice – are we actually spending enough time and effort on ensuring such incidents don’t happen? While we are blaming the lack of security, the slow pace of judiciary and police system – are we holding a mirror to our face and asking can these actually prevent a recurrence? Are we thinking respect for another human being can be got through stricter laws and better protection alone?

Don’t we need a more on ground set of action from each of us to repair the ugly tears in our social and moral fabric? Today are we as parents, teachers, elders teaching our next gen how every life on this earth is precious and demands respect. How many parents have sat their children down to talk on what it means to respect a girl and provide her the right to live her life as free as her male counterparts? How can we rest till we have a sensitized Gen-Y who know both their rights and responsibilities?

While we need a quick resolution to this case, we also need a way of ensuring that youngsters are trained to be more sensitive towards fellow human beings. While the governance structure moves towards making the right policy changes to keep a safe and secure nation, we also need to provide enough training and sensitization to all regarding the importance of treating everyone (irrespective of color, caste, gender, etc) equally. While on one hand we are looking forward to economic growth, we also need to re-look at ensuring our basic rights as human beings are respected and protected. This can come only if we collectively resolve to change ourselves at an individual level to respect ourselves first and then others. For no person with self respect and sensitivity – will knowingly fall from the mantle of being human.

Hope the New Year will start on a right note.  Along the way in our search for prosperity, let us  seek peace and happiness also!

Seasons Greetings and New Year Wishes to all!