Life's Little Lesson

This was a nice summer morning. Sapna woke up early today. She had her global leader visiting from Germany. This was a momentous day for her. Her manager Emilia was travelling all the way from Germany to have key meetings with Sapna and Sapna’s team.

As soon as Sapna walked out of the bathroom, her phone rang. Her maid was on the other side informing her that she would be unable to come to work today. She gave a reason that her sister is not keeping well, and she needed to go outstation to see her. Sapna gets frustrated by the anxious thought that her maid is not coming on this important day when she desperately needed to leave early for the office, Sapna shouted “You always do this Rani, I am fed up with your sudden leaves” and hung up the phone.

After few odd minutes her maid called again and informed that she has lost her ailing sister. Sapna was shocked to hear that. Sapna’s husband watching all these said to her “you should not have reacted the way you did. She had a genuine problem.” Sapna although feeling indeed guilty and ashamed did not want to accept the same to her husband and mumbled "Her sister did not die because of my reaction"

Sapna was in the office; she was delighted to see everything was in place for Emilia’s visit. She gratefully thanked her efficient team. Emilia reached in the office at afternoon. 1 PM she was with her in a conference room to discuss business area performance and key priorities for the next half of the year. While they had barely initiated the discussion, Sapna received a call, it was her son’s school. She intentionally ignored. They called again. Sensing something important, she excused herself out of conference room to take the call. Other side was the school’s principal informing that her son suffered an unfortunate accident during the sport and needed to rush to the hospital. Sapna entered the conference room terrified with the news still trying to determine what she should do; her husband went out of station today for a business trip. Emilia asked if everything was ok. She narrated what happened to her son. Emilia urged her to attend the hospital immediately and not think about her visit and things needed to be done at the office as this can planned to be done over a phone calls as well later.

Three of Sapna’s colleagues accompanied her to the hospital and left only after her son was stable.

In the night, she got text from Emilia inquiring about her son’s health. Emilia was at the airport to catch her flight back to Germany. She got calls and messages from several of her team members wishing well for her son.

She thought about her organization and felt grateful to work in such a caring, employee friendly environment. She thought about her team members and how they willingly helped her today. She thought about Emilia and felt fortunate that she was her boss, so very much understanding and flexible. Subsequently, she thought about what happened to her maid Rani in the morning. Uncontrollable tears rolled down her cheeks. She has undoubtedly learnt a Life’s Little Lesson today.

Key Learning from “The One Minute Manager” by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

This one is a classic. First time published in 1982, this book has sold over 13 million copies and been translated into 37 languages. I have read this in the past and have just reread again.

Louis P. Neeb President of Fast Food Division, W. R. Grace & Co has said about this book that “Buying copies of The One Minute Manager is one of the best investments I’ve made in myself and in our managers.”

Such a powerful less than 100 pages book is this and really a quick read. I finished just in one sitting.

These are the 3 key learning (which Kenneth and Spencer called ‘Secret’) from this book:

The First Secret: One Minute Goals

1. Agree on your goals.
2. See what good behavior looks like.
3. Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words.
4. Read and re-read each goal, which requires only a minute or so each time you do it.
5. Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance.
and
6. See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.

Authors recommend following 80:20 principle while doing the goal setting, which means 80% results should come from 20% goals.

The Second Secret: One Minute Praising

1. Tell people up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing.
2. Praise people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did right—be specific.
4. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there.
5. Stop for a moment of silence to let them “feel” how good you feel.
6. Encourage them to do more of the same.
7. Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization.

Here authors recommend to catch people doing something right. Take a moment to comment and appreciate on something they have accomplished that you value.

The Third Secret: One Minute Reprimand

1. Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and in no uncertain terms.

The first half of the reprimand:
2. Reprimand people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did wrong—be specific.
4. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong—and in no uncertain terms.
5. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.

The second half of the reprimand:
6. Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side.
7. Remind them how much you value them.
8. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation.
9. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it’s over.

Here, authors recommend One minute reprimands should be given as soon as an employee does something wrong. One minute reprimands are effective because the feedback is immediate and one need not wait for annual performance review to give or obtain the feedback. Also, since one mistake is pointed out at one time, the person attends to it seriously and can take action to work on it and correct it.

In ‘The New One Minute Manager’, One Minute Reprimand is now the One Minute Redirect. Today, where everyone is the learner as there is constant need of skill development, Redirect is more applicable and relevant than Reprimand.

Have you read this book already? If not, I would highly recommend, please do read this. This would help a lot in your dealing with people whether you are a ‘designated’ manager or not.

Happy Diwali

Exactly 10 years back, I had written this on my personal blog. As a leader, I have always tried to make sure than none of my team
members is needed to do this. I was lucky in doing so most of the times because of nature of projects I was involved in and I could plan well in advance to make sure of the same. However, I do know that there are businesses where you need to keep lights on 24x7 and people would still needed to be working on Diwali night somewhere in the offices, at airports , in the factories, at borders. 

Leaders/Managers - if you have anyone from your team doing this .. please give them a gift of concern and a sincere token of gratitude. Believe me, this is the least you can do and this small gesture goes a long way in building your team and for moral of your employees.

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali!!

Top 10 Quotes from Chanakya still relevant to modern day Management and Leadership

C

hanakya was an Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. Chanakya was the teacher of Chandragupta Maurya and he assisted Chandragupta in his rise to power. He played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire.  “Artha Shastra “is one of his master piece – a bible for Business strategy and Management in ancient India.

Even after 2300 years his teaching relevant to all walk of life. Here are few of his quotes which are relevant to even modern day of management and leadership:

Risk Management

“As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it”

Clarity of Objective and then Planning

“Before you start your work, always ask yourself three questions –Why I am doing this, what the result might be and will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead”

Stick to the Plan and Goal

 

“Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest”

People Management and Communication

 

“An egoist can be won over by being respected, a crazy person can be won over by allowing him to behave in an insane manner and a wise person can be won over by truth”

“All the creatures are pleased by loving words; and therefore we should address words that are pleasing to all, for there is no lack of sweet words”

“We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favor,like the hunter who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer”

Leading by example

 

“If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works”

Selection of Employees

“A ‘trainable’ person is one who has following qualities:

1. Desire to learn
2. Effective Listening ability
3. Ability to reflect (Things from all the angles)
4. Ability to reject false views
5. Intentness on truth not on any person”

SWOT Analysis

 

“After ascertaining the relative strength or weakness of powers, place, time, revolts in rear, losses, expenses, gains and troubles, of himself and of the enemy, the conqueror should march”

Managing Opportunities

 

“The king shall lose no time when the opportunity waited for arrives”