Playing positions

It’s a so much fun to watch the kids play football (soccer)…specially the 5-11 yr olds. Every player has one simple objective… kick the ball. Everywhere the ball goes, ALL the players go…and kick the ball. Somehow the ball gets kicked out of the big group of players and once again the cycle starts. Not too many goals are scored, but everybody has a lot of fun! Of course the game has to stop, every time some kid gets kicked on the shin!

Contrast it to a game of soccer between two professional teams…even a well-coached school team. There’s hardly any time that the ball has more than 2 –3 players at it. Everybody seems to know the ‘square’ in which they have to play…

It’s a feature that you’ll see repeat itself all over the place. A place where people play their position will seem to have more productivity and less chaos….less noise, less tempers flaying and more customers being served.

So many times this happens in well-set organizations. People start to play too many positions, moving from one to another…creating confusion, and doubt. This makes it hard for others to pass the ball to them, as it’s not clear what position they may be playing. It also makes it hard to pass the ball to others, who may actually be playing their position, since there’s confusion. Result is a loss of productivity and perhaps a loss of peace as well.

Sometimes, it’s eagerness to ‘grab opportunity’…sometimes it’s just a force of habit, when you think ‘you can fix everything’ and sometimes, it’s genuine desire to ‘help out’. Either way, when you leave your position and move into another person’s square…it must be done discreetly and with better understanding in place.

In order to play a position, you need to first know what position you are supposed to be playing…and many people in the org, just don’t know it. Hence they don’t know the expectation and regardless keep working…. making it harder for themselves and for others around them.

Playing positions is another skill that sportsmen display all the time, and is another great take away from playing team sports, and a big reason for every kid to play team sports, even though it’s becoming harder and harder in today’s urban living.

If you are looking for a New Year gift for your child, get him or her enrolled into a team sport.

For yourself, identify what position you are supposed to play, and what skills are required for it. Find your ‘square’ and pass the ball where others can play it better.  And you may also avoid getting kicked on the shin.

Wish you make all the goals in 2011. Happy New Year.

Good Old Elephant Story

Remember the story of the Elephant and four blind men. How every person feels one part of the elephant while blindfolded and reports what he ‘sees’. I’m not sure what was the lesson back when my mom would have told me the story…she probably didn’t spell it out and left it our imagination.



The story of course has great universal appeal because it’s so simple and yet so powerful. If the four men were left to argue, they would continue on and on about what they saw…If the four men are dumb they’ll continue making the same point again…and if they are smart they may form a better, more complete understanding of the animal.


Life and work is so much like that. Our opinions are shaped by what we have seen, our own experiences and our perspectives.  

Many a times I see smart people arguing to great lengths about how things should be…and many a times all they have is one reference point. “I saw this at so-and-so place” or “I know this is how it is”.


Lets change the course of the story, a little, and figure what the four men could ‘agree’ on.
- An elephant is a living breathing being
- An elephant is large
- An elephant is something I have not yet seen visually.
- There are other people who ‘view’ elephant much different from myself.


With the above agreements, it would be much simpler to move forward…
- Each person sees respect for their own views
- Each person accepts, ‘there may be more out there’
- There are some agreements, so people aren’t from different planets


Once people are looking for agreements, they can find more.

Everybody is correct in what they report, but they aren’t complete. In today’s complex world, it’s increasingly difficult to be ‘complete’ with what you know. There’s way too much out there to know it all. The only way to make a larger, better understanding is to pool in knowledge, perspectives and opinions from different sources.


When people come up to you and say something that you don’t agree on…it’s very likely that the person was at the other end of the elephant !

MTV

Ah! The joys of festivals. We just can’t get enough of it. The decorations, shopping, fireworks, parties and ofcourse, food, food and more food.



Isn’t it interesting that the MTV generation seems to be fully immersed in celebrating Diwali.


We were supposed to be spoilt on western culture and should have forgotten about Diwali and Dusshera…but 20-25 yrs later…most of us still haven’t. We certainly have more days to celebrate though.


Some things have surely changed. …more diyas are wax based, readymade of course…safer and burn much better…lights are LED…consume less power and more reliable, Sweets are less Mithai and more of other snacks…dry fruits, cookies, some chocolates too…perhaps more healthy.


Come of to think of it, we may have actually improved upon the celebrations.


Isn’t it great! And proves a point that we must not forget.


A good thing isn’t going to go away, just because another new strong, radically different influence comes in. It may actually improve and get better over time because of the new influence.


What MTV was to earlier generations, Internet is to today’s generation.

Once again, similar apprehensions exist, and nobody clearly knows how to deal with it and what all influences it’ll bring to us.  But most certainly there's confidence that it'll turn out well.


And guess what happened to MTV…today, it’s hard to find english music on it. MTV has become just TV...but for the logo, it could be any other channel.


Anyway, Here’s a great example of why MTV wasn’t appreciated by our parents and was so cool for us…one of my favorite. Be patient, listen & watch the whole video.

Traditions...

Lucy extended her hand and waited…Mr Tumnus simply looked at her extended hand, not knowing what to do. Lucy says, ‘you shake it’, Mr Tumnus replies, “Why”…

When we meet….we greet and shake hands….no questions asked. Why do we do that? Because that’s how it is done…that’s how we’ve been greeting for as far back as we can remember…that’s how others expect it to be.
A birthday cake is mandatory today…even if you don’t spend a lot on arranging a big birthday party, a simple cake cutting makes up for a lot. A birthday wouldn’t be complete without one.

That’s the power of Traditions. Of Social norms. You don’t question them. You accept them without a hitch. Even the usually unacceptable becomes acceptable.

This is ofcourse, festival time in India, and you can see traditions being literally ‘played’ out all across the country. Gambling or Jua is considered a social evil…but it’s ok to Gamble when it’s Diwali. Even people who would not enter a casino usually…plan and host gambling get togethers.

Although we see traditions as something that has a history…and has been handed down for sometime…perhaps, religious…however, all traditions don’t exactly have a big history.

New traditions can be created. You can create one.

A tradition of writing a song for every product release that you make.
A tradition to cook as a family on Saturday.
A tradition to volunteer, as a team or a family.
A tradition to celebrate and recount all the deliverables made by the team last month.

I lived in Hyderabad once, and noticed that our neighbors always bought some gold or made some financial investment on their kids birthday. It’s a tradition for them, their parents did the same. A great way to ensure some financial security for the kids education!

Is it possible that many of the traditions that we follow today, have some good logic behind them, besides the religious reason? Cleaning up the house and decorating on Diwali, after the rainy season in India…buying gold on Akshaythritiya…donating to temples on special occasions (remember Temples were the center of social activities in the past including development of art and knowledge).

The world around us is changing, and changing drastically…and we need newer traditions to keep some of the good things around. We also need to be open to accept newer traditions and norms…

What are you going to start this festival season? Think...and wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali.

All is well syndrome…

India bagged 38th gold medals in Commonwealth Games 2010! Surprise victories kept showing up, like in women’s discuss throw, where India won the gold, Silver and the Bronze.


I’m just glad that we got to watch the moments of glory for all the athletes, rather than all the hoopla…that preceded the games.


While there is no reason to write more about the pre game games…there’s a very common pattern that is worth talking about.


…the eagerness to declare “All is well”.


We just don’t like to report a less than perfect status and we don’t like to hear less perfect status. It’s just human nature…everybody loves good news.


For most part, a little sugar coating of the bad news is mostly acceptable… “we are short on this count, but will catch up soon.”. Though there will come a time, when there’s no scope for sugar coating also.


Things get dangerous, when facts distort into fiction. After that it’s mostly another twist to keep up with the last twist.


Denial isn’t gonna work usually…acceptance will.


Once there’s acceptance, the focus is turned towards course correction. Help shows up from unusual quarters…and in the end everybody turns out to be the winner. Almost always…because people want you to succeed, that’s why you were given the opportunity.


Or you may have to cut the losses and bite the bullet and make some major changes…Remember, Tata Nano! The project was in deep trouble, and instead of reporting all is well, the Tata’s voiced their concern…and when week after week assessment wasn’t matching their charted course, they quietly got to working at the alternatives.


IPL  in South Africa…who would have thought Indian league in South Africa…

Another side effect is the loss of credibility, which would happen with repeated fictional reporting. We live is a networked world…word will get out, sooner or later.

Once credibility is lost, we have a larger problem at hand…

So it’s try and keep it real…All doesn’t have to be ‘well’ all the time.

Will the replacements take over…

 

Last week, one business news stood out for me. Nokia lost 20% of the Indian handset market share. (ET Link). Now, THAT is not just a drop, it’s a ‘slide’. I looked at my Nokia handset, which I have been using for last one year and have no real complains.


The product is still solid. Works great but clearly has lost favor in the marketplace.

 

Something similar happens to individuals also. We are good at something, and we evolve, learn new skills too, but we can still find ourselves out of favor.

 

Why?... Because being good at something isn’t good enough, you got be ‘better’ and you got to be relevant.

 

Two dimensions need consideration.

• the ‘competitive’ dimension
• and change of pace around us.

Indian hockey is another great example of how people can loose the plot. We were the greatest, especially when it came to ‘dribbling’. However, the game changed due to movement in technology (faster turf), change in rules and rise of other nations, like Germany that excelled. Speed became more important than dribbling.

Are you the best in the field that you play in? Are you the best in the changing field that you play in? Will you “continue” to be the best in the ever changing field that you will play in?

Being good or ‘the best’ at something, also brings in a sense of complacency but that’s not always the case.

The bigger danger is the ‘inward looking’ behavior. You tend to keep looking at yourself, your methodology, your efficiency….so while you continuously improve when compared to yourself last year…it isn’t good enough when it compares to rest of the marketplace.

There are always the new kids on the block, with zero legacy and a burning desire. While they lack the experience, they make it up with the hard work and smart thinking. They change the playing field, up the ante…and every existing player needs to step up.

And, BTW, I’m a Nokia fan. Over the last ten yrs of Mobile phone usage, I must have bought over 20 Nokia phones for myself and family…but I wonder, if my next phone will be Nokia.

Will the replacements take over? We’ll see…

PS: Discalimer: I have no opinion on whether the data in ET is correct or not. It did stand out for me, being a Nokia fan.

 

Fear Steer…

As the half yearly exams approach for most school kids in India, the level and intensity of threats to the child increases. If you don’t practice this, you’ll loose marks. If you don’t complete all the revision work today, you’ll get one fat one on your bum.


Kids in high school see a complete different level of threats…the threats near doomsday predictions. If you don’t get through to engineering, you’ll regret for rest of your life.


We practically grow up approaching any challenge with a heavy dose of fear!


Problem is, Fear has exactly the opposite effect on performance. Higher the fear, lower the performance.


There are those managers who drive via fear. From a somewhat direct, “If you don’t deliver this there will be trouble” to an outright threat like “If you can’t deliver this by Monday, start looking for a job”.


To be fair, it is important that consequences of missing a deadline or a commitment should be made clear and understood, but repeated such behavior points to an inherent problem in the management model.


Many times, the Manager can actually get short term results via this method but eventually this will be counter productive.


An effective manager empowers the team, such that individuals can take decisions and act on their own free will, in the right way and for the benefit of the product, team and organization.


However, Fear creates Inaction.


When fear prevails, people stop applying themselves and making decisions and may rather wait for somebody else to make a decision, or folks may take more time to analyze every what if scenario, before making a call.


Either way, it’s a loss of productivity.


Fear makes us focus on the ‘consequence’ as opposed to the task at hand. The goal becomes defensive, which is to make the least amount of mistakes…rather than excelling & exceeding at what we do.


Check your fear meter today…look at the last 10 decisions that you made.


…did you take the safe route repeatedly?
…did you delay the decision unnecessarily?
…did you defer the decision to someone else?
…did you create fear for someone else?

Is fear your steer? Think.