"7 Habits" : A Management Guru Stephen Covey - passed away.

Stephen Covey , The author of the best seller "7 Habits of highly effective people" passed away.

I hooked to  this book ,when I just passed out of engineering college. Since then I kept visiting this book , as well as the workbook and his website often. In my opinion if one is allowed to pick up only one self-help book , one should pick up "7 Habits" . No wonder it is best seller for many years and the author is regarded as a management guru for well known established firms.  Though he had other books to his credit, 7 habits is the best of them all.

7 Habits is wonderful book. The habits rests one on another, they are interlinked. The book has whole ecosystem of workbook, website, audiobooks and training courses based on it. So for every taste of learning style , there is serving resource.  So get "7 Habits" on your priority list this year for further development.


And ,may his soul rest in peace.



Ref: Image Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Covey_2010.jpg

Best Place to work !

This fourth toast-master project is my most memorable one.

First I had already committed the date . Before due date, even after toiling with two three ideas , I was not ready with the speech. Then I decided to take a short-cut. I used my Organization Behavior assignment of book review Maverick. I reviewed "Maverick" - a story of turn around of Brazilian business. I rewritten my assignment to suit 6 minutes speech. At that time I followed all project-4 requirements. I could finalize the draft after 4 to 5 revisions in the Starbucks.

Now only one day was left for rehearsal. So I practiced from early morning, while having breakfast , along with commuting, & during lunch hour . Finally I practiced it mentally while going to venue in train, and I delivered my speech. In spite of Anxiety , delivery was confident, smooth and free flowing. Practice helps !. I could feel the "Positive feedback". Later evaluator also gave good feedback.

Surprisingly speech won the best prepared speech award for that day. For me it become memorable as comparatively with less preparation , it gave more rewarding results.

Here is the draft of speech.

Best Place to work!

Fellow toastmaster , which day you like more - Friday or Monday ?
If you are cheerful , happy , and excited on Monday morning ,than Friday evening - then you belong to the better work place.

And How is this workplace - all employees reach at dot 0900 , all wears starched ,spotless suits and shiny shoes. Your idea will change - Mine also got changed after reading this book Maverick . Purpose of this speech is to introduce you to this book and firm called SEMCO - S-E-M-C-O . The book is all about the change - Change for better workplace .

Change made by people ,for people and by people.

First is flexibility . Flexibility in everything . Flexibility in arriving , leaving , holidays , dress - literary about everything. For example - look at our Monday morning routine. We rush , run to catch subway . It is peak hour ,as usual crowded . People ,People ,every where people. I use Tozai-sen , So much crowded ,that there is special subway staff to push people and close doors. I always feel like overblown balloon, someday it is going to burst open !.

How great it will be if we can avoid this time and reach office - may be just 15 min. late ,for some 30 min late ?

Crowed is not the only thing - You may wish to spend morning for a dear one - with simmering ,steamy hot coffee , or you may wish to hold the soft , smooth hand of your two year innocent child and walk for Hoiku-en.

This is possible - only with one single ,easy and simple step. You should have flexibility in office time. Semco does that . All employees -not only white collar staff ,but blue collar workers too - can come to office as per their convenience.

Company does not bother as long as work is done. But this single ,simple and easy step balances their work-life beautifully. Semco is flexible not only in arrival time ,but also in everything . You can decide your parking space , color of your office, color of factory , your furniture. You can
decide job-rotations , holidays & training. The height of flexibility is employees can decide their salaries too. Yes - Salaries too.

Another thing is your manager , your boss. Unavoidable evil. isn't it ?
(Pause ! )

Many feel that boss is like a devil - who stands between you & your evaluation , You & your promotion too. He is the one who drives you and your ( low voice ) increments and bonus .

What if we can reverse this ? So instead manager rates you , you rate your manager. Semco does exactly that !. Instead boss hire employees , employee interviews and hires boss. Employee
decide - if their manager need to be promoted or not.

Do you think this all is odd, weird and strange . But this book with 36 chapters and 300 pages is full of such odd things.

Like ....
No Organization Chart , Semco doesnʼt need one.
No pyramidal or hierarchical structures with CEO at top ,then VP , then middle managers and then staff. Semco does not have any hierarchies .
And no designations for employees . Obvisouly Semco donʼt need HR department too.
So no HR ,No secretarial staff.

Sounds odd ,but note that firm is a huge success by any standards and any measures .

What is the secret of this success ?
It is collective decision making. It is not a mere Nemawashi - or simply consensus making . It is genuine collective decision making , true participative & democratic decision making.

Employees are not distant , disconnected ,abstract , faceless number. They are part & parcel of this Semco. They are spirit & soul . They are the force behind Semco Success.

Toastmasters now if you want to read this book ,my purpose is served .

Thank you very much.

Indian Bureacracy - HR perspective .

Today I read the news about worst south Asian bureaucracy - India.

Those who area aware of Indian bureaucracy should know that majority of them come through the most grueling and difficult selection process of UPSC. Many bright and brilliant student spend years studying as this brings prestige ,salary ,power and unparalleled benefits. Many view it as kind of dream service with life-time employment and almost negligible performance accountability.

Moreover constitution of India protects these bureaucrats from fear of persecution ( mainly from politicians ) and financial insecurity. ( Details here. )

Prima facie bright employees and excellent career opportunities should result into high performing change agents , but Indian case is proving it wrong.

One of major reason may be the environment in which they work ,reminding me of article titiled " why good people do bad things ? " making a case for impact of system on individual behavior.

Though it is true that system in which these people work is practically difficult to change - but from HR perspective how about providing means ,practices and expert advice about how to cope with this system and remain efficient and high performing individuals ?

Any thoughts ?

Free - a world where you don't pay .

Business models where products are available for free and that too with no hidden costs is a reality. As this BBC Article talks about Chris Anderson's book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price." The time has reached where underlying costs are so much cheaper , that it makes sense to give it free.

And some one else will pick the bill for you.

Open source is great example of this , essentially the software is free , what firms pay for is support cost. It is great example of what interlinked world of collaboration and break-down of traditional distribution channels will do with the business.

Business models like Flickr, where few premium customers are paying and most others are using services as good as free has limitless possibilities and both segments are happy with it.

It is straight-way counter-intuitive for traditional business mind-set , where you literary don't give anything for free. It will be really interesting to see how business model is evolving .

For example you have free air-travel and cargo firms , tourism-centers and few premium customers pay for travel. One more example Metropolis is a popular high quality print magazine among foreigners and it is free , even classifieds are free and business ads support the revenue. And One of the best example I have seen is Dells 100 yen ( Approx. 40 Rs or 1 $) Netbook. Yes it is true and I am not kidding !!. Basically you get the Netbook at 100 Yen and sign for a mobile wire-less internet contract which is binding for 2 years. But still at the end it is attractive option and the unit is selling like a hot-cake in Japan.

I sincerely feel that idea has potential in all walks of life in strategy building , with a personal experience with following example. Vipassana meditation camp was not available everywhere. When S.N. Goenkaji made this 10 day residential camps 100% free including your residence and food ( It should be pointed that the motivations were never profit driven ). The growth that vipassana saw was phenomenal and exponential. Now one can find vipassana camps at almost every part of world with same rules/regulations and conducted totally free (check here ). It was pleasant surprise for me to see one in Japan. It is worth-while to note here that the move was counter-intuitive for others ( As S.N.Goenkaji mentions in his lectures ).

Basically Idea of FREE has enough potential to ponder and toy around in your way of work.
Gautam's this post helped me to explore more about the idea here.

Managerial Style & Financial Fiasco

Though theory states about different managerial styles like AUTHORITATIVE , COERCIVE ,DEMOCRATIC and so on . But fact boils down to how "managed employees" look at you as a boss.

This is further high lighted by recent confession by many managers in financial industry that they were not aware that trouble was brewing .

This BBC article throws light on why !

So mere 7% of employees , who think that the boss is "kind" , reported that the managers listened to them. Further research indicated that "kind" bosses gets superior results.

This new generation Y, ( not only in US ,but in other part of world too ) is seeking change in managerial styles. Article further stresses that "Kind" bosses are not doormats , but like respectful knowledgeable parents with integrity.

So the qualities required are different than what the contemporary textbooks are conveying.