Understanding the client's needs

I was watching a movie on Julius Reuter, the news agency pioneer. He was the first one to use telegraph for transmitting news. He established the Reuters News service and approached the leading newspapers of the day in London to buy the news from him. A couple of the papers agreed to carry his news when he offered it free for a month on a trial basis. The Times scoffed at the idea. They said that it difficult to put the credibility of the newspaper into someone else's hands.
It so happened that towards the end of the Crimean War, the King of France was to make the announcement of a cease-fire. Reuter met the King and conviced him to give a copy of his speech in advance. He got it translated from French to English and while the speech was being delivered by the King, Reuter was having it transmitted over the wires to London. Moment the King finished delivering his speech, Reuter was handing over the copy to all his subscribers in London.His news agency was the first one to break the news of a ceasefire.
Now what Reuter did is a lesson in building relationships for all businesses. He gave a copy of the speech to The Times,whose editor had insulted him, also. He dismissed this action of his saying that it would have made a great paper like The Times look small if they did not carry the news. The concern for The Times' reputation greatly endeared him to the Editor and they went on to become great friends.
Lesson for all businesses is that we have to understand not only the tangible but the intangible needs too of our clients.

Enabling Environment

I wish to express my views about the fact that an 'enabling environment' brings out the best in people. I was discussing this in the context of a leading school with my sister.
She was telling me of this school which has a primary wing, a junior school from the IInd to the VIst standard and the senior wing.
The primary wing comes across as one full of fun where, the teachers despite having to work even at home to complete the school tasks are ever ready to take on new projects. They have great team work and understanding amongst themselves. Playing the blame game is not known to them.
The management felt that the 'life' which was there in the primary section was missing in the junior wing. The teachers were not 'charged' enough. So one teacher was shifted to the junior wing from the primary.
Now this lady who was a 'livewire' in the primary, has become 'earthed' in the junior school. She has lost that sense of 'joi de vivre', which was her forte. The management is now contemplating shifting a couple of teachers from the primary wing to junior school to achieve critical mass for enforcing a change.
I was sharing with my sister that it is the 'enabling environment' provided in the primary section which has led to teachers taking ownership of various aspects of school activities and driving them. While their boss drives them hard, they are free to vent their disagreements and it is taken in the right spirit and the boss also joins in the fun & banter. The teachers enjoy their work. The students don't want to miss school.
The atmosphere in the junior school appeared to be stifling. And hence over a period of time the spark had disappeared. The teachers were shy of taking ownership.
In my opinion, the management would do well to understand what makes the primary section 'tick'. Was it only the teachers or their head also. Or was it the fun environment/culture that had been created over a period of time. Or, was there a case for identifying the distinctive attributes required in a teacher for each level of classes and building a team accordingly.
To my mind, in any organisation, unless there is transfer of ownership, the organisation cannot flourish. It has to provide an 'enabling environment' to bring out the best in each employee.

Even roses can be grown in the deserts but the soil has to be prepared right alongwith climate control. We have also tigers breeding in the zoo. The jury is still out on whether it is a success or a failure.

To Call or Not to Call...

" Son when you have kids of your own, you would realize what we go through." This was my father's response to my question as to why they called up every Sunday when I joined the NDA 29 years ago.
And my Dad was right.
My daughter, Mishka, has joined a hotel management course at Bangalore and is staying in a hostel. It being an institute run by the Army Welfare Education Society, discipline is a way of life.
Her routine starts with PT in the morning. Thereafter the rest of the day is a blur rushing from one activity/class to another. I called her up at 6.45 yesterday morning and she chirped, "Dad, I have just got back from PT and have 20minutes to get ready. Can't talk to you now. Call after half an hour."
I was on tenterhooks for the next 1800 seconds!! Called her up at the 1810th second. Got a run down of the previous day. Was very happy to know that she is enjoying herself. Had a chat with her in the evening too.
When I called up my wife today morning ( she is on the train on her way back to Bhopal from Bangalore), to ask if she had spoken with Mishka, she said," Let her be. Don't call up so often. Even I have not called."
And so here I sit with my mobile, pressing the search button, typing out 'mishka', her number appears, but I do not press the button with the green telephone logo. My mind wanders off to Bangalore. I see her sitting in her classroom, engaging the professor in some profound discussion on the future trends in the hotel industry, arguing with the F&B instructor on the merits of asfoetida in pasta sauce or pulling pranks on her friends.
I am not able to muster the courage to press the button with the green telephone logo.
Or is it that I am gathering the courage to let my 'baby darling' go.
To call or not to call, that is the question.

My FIRST 3-D experience

You would not believe it but it is true. I saw a 3-D movie for the first time yesterday. It so happened that with my wife away with my elder daughter to Bangalore, I was charged with taking care of the younger one, Anoushka.
Anoushka had been asking me to take her to the Regional Science Centre since a long time. And by yesterday I had run out of excuses. So off we went and what a great time I had.
We whispered into pipes, demonstrating that sound travels in a tube, rolled heavy iron balls up incline planes and lifted weights with great ease.
The high point was our going for the 3-D movie show. I must confess that it was the first time that I saw one. It was pretty engrossing considering that I nearly took a swipe with my hand at the snake which came hissing at me. Gave an embarrassed look to my kid sitting on my right, but she understood and acted as if she had not seen me hitting out.

We had a wonderful time. the RSC has been conceptualised very well. The displays left us wanting for more. Science is an art. Notice the iron filings arranging and rearranging themselves in beautiful patterns when subjected to the fields of different types of magnets. The sheer joy of watching different patterns being formed by liquids of varying densities and colours.
The enormous data that is depicted about our planet is mind-boggling and interesting.
We came back all charged up and smiling at this wonderful outing.
Anoushka has motivated me to go for the 4-D show next time we are in Mumbai. She went to one this summer

Back to School...

It is always a great pleasure going to my younger daughter's school in Bhopal. It is called The Sanskaar Valley School. Spread over nearly 37acres of rolling landscape surrounded by low hills. Spring time sees the blossoms of Kachnar, Gulmohur and Palash turn the earth into various shades of purple, red and yellow. Monsoons make the area verdant green. The drive is beautiful. On two occasions, I have let a cobra cross my path and a viper once. In fact I managed to click the viper. And those of you who are smirking, I say it aloud for you. The viper was scared. It would have been scared had it been you too.

Yesterday was the award ceremony and since she was one of the awardees I was invited. Dr Sumer Singh, the Principal of Daly College,Indore was the chief guest. In this blog I wish to take up one point that he made about scoring marks in exams is not the meaning of a meaningful education. He stressed upon the fact that "getting good marks is only a door which opens your path to to a reputed institution for higher studies". He continued in the same vein that how you evolve as an individual is the true measure of education.
I cannot help taking up the 'door' analogy a little further. A room with just a door will be dark and stuffy. We will need artificial means to light it up and also arrange for circulation of air.
A room with a door and a number of windows will be airy and will have natural light. It will be well ventilated and cheery. It will be a 'healthy' room.
So it is with any person. We find that a multidimensional personality is more interesting than someone who has only one facet.A person who has been exposed to myriad experiences has greater adaptability and dynamism than someone who has purposely restricted his fields.
Therefore, true education would lie in enriching ourselves through exposure to arts, literature, travel, meeting people from diverse backgrounds and imbibing their perspectives. I would say that developing culinary skills, a questioning attitude... oh... the list is endless, they all add to our personality and a well rounded education.
A room with a number of windows permitting light and air to come in during different parts of the day, is healthier to stay in.Similarly, a curriculum with exposure to aspects other than text books develops a healthier mind.
I am glad my kid is studying in this school. She actually looks forward to going there. In light banter if I tell her that we may shift to some other city, pat comes the reply, "Dad, you can go. Mom and I will stay here only." It helps that my wife is teaching there and enjoying herself.
Yes I am 'jealous' of the school. It gives my daughter more fun-time than I do.

Driven by Faith. Driving in Faith.

I was fortunate to have got an opportunity to travel to north India in the first week of January2010,when it was gripped by a cold wave. To be precise, I travelled to Chandigarh and Delhi.
This blog relates to the experience I had on the night of 6th Jan. It is a short saga of faith,missed opportunities,u-turns and self-motivation.
After finishing my assignment at Amity Business School in Sect125 in Noida, I started for home in Patpatganj at about 11.15p.m. My house is very close to the Akshardham crossing.
I came out of the Amity gate and could not find the road. It was as if one was amongst the clouds. I could not see the left edge of my car's bonnet. The diffused light from the head-lamps showed that it was there. But beyond that one could not see anything. I nearly decided to camp for the night in Amity.
Then I remembered that my mother had mentioned that she had prepared fish curry for me. O! one can cross a hundred mountains for that. So what is a few kilometres of dense fog!! I crawled forward at 2kmph, going upto 5 in spurts of visibility. I imagined the steaming plate of rice with the wafting scent of the curry as the fog enveloped me. I could not see even 5 meters. But all my senses were on a high alert. Months of driving on the UP Link road came handy. Actually it was a perfect case of one blind leading the other. I followed the tail lights of an Indica for quite some distance. And then that vehicle just sped off. For the next couple of kms, I was leading with atleast 4 vehicles behind me.I can only guess that those drivers thanked me. I stuck my head out of the window,aligned my right wheel with the road-divider and drove on. Brr..it was cold.
I reached Akshardham crossing by 12.30a.m. Boy what a relief!! I am just a kilometer from my house. Hot and spicy fish curry and rice at last. And then the my mother put some more steaming rice into my plate and the steam overwhelmed me.A wave of fog came and I could not see anything. I missed the next turning. In fact just as I was going past it, I thought I saw an opening in the mist, but I crossed it and went over the bridge. An opportunity was missed.
I went on for what seemed like i was driving till the end of the terra firma when I noticed a gap in the divider. Thank God! He has given me an opportunity to make a u-turn. I did that. And out of the mist appeared another vehicle which put me on NH-24. And then I was home. Time taken since I had started from Amity campus- 2hours,47 minutes. Distance covered -10kms. But then I was home and enjoyed the meal.
Lessons learnt from this episode-

• Life is about taking chances. You have to take your chances if you want to get somewhere.
• Taking chances is about faith. Faith in yourself and faith in God.
• You have to be alert about fleeting opportunities and grab them.
• If you've missed once, you have to have patience. God allows u-turns.
• And there's no place like home.

Random thoughts on self motivation

A chat with an acquaintance of mine regarding his plans brought up an interesting thought about motivation in employees. This blog is about two issues. One, motivation by the organisation and two, self-motivation.

The person was demoralised about the lack of incentives or other forms of motivation in the organisation. It would be pertinent to mention here that he has been with the organisation for over six years now. This was the time when the market was on the rise. It was a seller's market. The real estate industry was booming. The sales team did not have to pitch aggressively to sell. There was a queue of customers with the booking amount!!

Change to late 2008 and early 2009. We all know the state of the economy then and the real estate sector too. Walk-ins were very hard to come-by. The developers tried every incentive from modular kitchens to foreign junkets to lure the customers. Selling was a very difficult task.

How do you think a salesperson and team leader who has seen only good times throughout his working career of six odd years would respond to the changed conditions? He can either adapt himself to the change or withdraw into a shell. Become non-communicative. New initiatives by the other team members were stifled.The morale of the team suffered.

The management on its part was too busy monitoring the cash flow, to keep its projects going, to pay adequate attention to the aspect of team motivation. And now when the market is picking up, the team leader has reached the point of total disillusionment.

He blames the management for not motivating (read incentivising) people. The management is of the view that even in difficult times it did not relieve anybody. From their perspective they are right. It is the sign of a good organisation to stand by its employees when others in the industry were downsizing. So who is at fault? Is it the organisation for not overtly taking motivational steps. Or the team-member for not possessing enough drive to keep himself motivated.

The person has a very impressive knowledge of the real estate industry "Pranavji, I want to start my own concern but people will say that I am a broker".

I said "Look friend. You have to focus on what you want. If you give services like a broker, you will be called a broker. But if you project and approach the client as an advisor, you can position yourself in a totally different league. It is not the work which is good or bad, but what quality we bring to the work,which is good or bad." " You will need to improve your communication and presentation skills, choose your clients with great care and focus on building trust rather than business. Business follows behaviour".

It is my mission to help him overcome his inhibitions and his utter lack of belief in himself resulting in disillusionment.

The bottom line is, do what makes you happy. If you cannot do that, find happiness in what you are doing.