Is Your Company As Sick As I Was?

My very recent experience with a serious back problem and its resolution reminds me, strangely, of my experiences as a management consultant. Let me explain this eerie connection. I'll start with the illness. 

Back pain had been part of my life for many years. On occasion,  it would decide to fester up and make things difficult, including slowing down my ability to do anything due to either the pain or the bed rest - or both.

Visits to doctors led to x-rays that revealed no clues as to the cause. Trips to chiropractors provided some relief, as did the bed rest.

The recent attack started off the same way but not only remained but also intensified. After two weeks, I was suddenly struck by a sharp and excruciating pain that shot from my lumbar region and through my left leg. I could not move.

After some agonising minutes, the agony eased. However, trying to stand or move triggered more punishment. It took 30 minutes for me to get to my bedroom and longer to get into the bed.

I was rushed to the emergency ward of the local hospital and, after heavy pain killers were administered, an x-ray was taken. This showed nothing of consequence, so after more than two weeks, I was diagnosed with "chronic back pain" and duly discharged with prescriptions for pain control. My wife demanded they undertake an MRI scan but the specialists deemed it unnecessary because they had made their diagnosis.

Being under regular morphine doses, I was mentally out of the picture. That stuff dulls the brain.

My future looked grim, to say the least.

However, within three days I was back in the emergency ward in severe pain that the medication was unable to control.

My wife very vehemently demanded an MRI scan yet again. They finally capitulated. Within 24 hours, the scan was undertaken and soon revealed the root cause of the problem: Cauda equina syndrome.

This syndrome is basically the blockage of the nerve channel in the spine, thereby crushing the nerves, causing pain and can lead to paralysis of the legs. If the blockage is between 50%-60%, immediate surgery is mandatory.

In my case, it was 80% blocked.

An immediate and major surgery finally provided the cure to my back problems. Although the recovery period takes many weeks, this operation has avoided total lower back paralysis. I can now look forward to a pain-free back and live a normal life without the fear of yet another attack. 

So, how does all this relate to my work as a consultant?

So many organisations suffer from issues such as ineffective leaders, under-performing employees, high staff attrition, low engagement and more.

Over and over again, the specialists apply the same cures: predominantly training of some sort or special events. These have limited results and are more like temporary 'fixes', just like bed rest and a chiropractor’s manipulations.

The underlying causes are not properly identified and given the appropriate remedy. The problems continue, draining the potential of both individuals and the organisation itself.

Like my wife, I request organisations to undergo the equivalent of an MRI scan to obtain the root causes with a view to a major operation to fix them for good. Unfortunately, as happened in my wife’s case, the specialists ignore this because they have made their own diagnoses and go their own way — maybe creating a short period of relief before the pain returns and grows. Is this leading to the eventual paralysis of your business?

… It is time to question --- is your company as sick as I was?

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Do We Really Want Our Organisation To Excel?

During the last few weeks, I’ve been speaking to a number of people. One was in HR and facing some difficult workplace situations. It seemed that a lot of improvement was needed in order to take “identified top talent” forward in terms of ability to lead, motivate and engage people.

He had worked on identifying training needs but, on offering relevant interventions, the take-up was miserably low. He had difficulty in 'selling' the training to this group. Less than 30% showed any interest.

What didn't help was the fact that HR was seen as more of a nuisance than anything and were just trying to add more unnecessary processes to the daily work.

'What can I do to increase the uptake of these courses?' he asked.

This kind of situation is not unusual.

The HR person was keen to help make a real difference to abilities and performance and had, for several months, worked hard at trying to generate an increased response. He was now at his wit's end. 'It's driving me mad,' the poor fellow admitted.

I asked him what his boss had done to guide or support him.

The answer was to the effect that he was told not to keep bashing his head against a brick wall. 'That's the way things are and you can't expect to change it. Your job is to set up the courses, so just stick to doing that and don't worry about it.'

So, we have a person keen to make a strong contribution to the organisation being, in effect, advised not to bother.

I was immediately reminded of an important part of the Preface and of the Introduction to the book “Lead To Win - Pioneering Powerful Performance”:

“For many years I have had a passion. I firmly believe, and this has been confirmed during my decades of experience and observations as a manager and as a consultant, that people love producing fantastic results.

I also firmly believe companies (read: “managers at all levels”) actively prevent people from doing so — unwittingly in most cases. This can so easily lead to lower performance and expensive staff turnover.”

And:

"So many organisations are like Formula 1 racing cars being used solely to toddle around to the local supermarket to get the family groceries. A definite quantum leap in performance is under the bonnet but is rarely, if ever, unleashed.

I do not use this simile lightly. People can and do achieve great things, amazing things, just because they want to."

This incident was a fine example of this in action.

Yet things could be so very different. The situation could be to a large extent turned around if senior management actually wanted to create a more dynamic and results-oriented organisation.

How?

Simply by taking it seriously and acting on it.

Let me explain.

First, to make things simpler, let's assume the identified top talent are 100 people.

One of my first questions is: why are 100 people considered "top" if they can't be bothered to learn more about how to be more effective in their work? To my mind, only the 30 have shown an interest in improvement. These are the ones to be nurtured.

By really focusing support in helping these individuals be successful, if we are doing our job effectively, they should start bringing in better results through their teams. These achievements must be quantified/qualified as they happen and form a significant part of their appraisals. Appropriate recognition/reward should follow.

The 70 who aren't interested are far less likely to achieve in this way and, therefore, will not be in line for anywhere near the same recognition.

What are the potential outcomes of this?

The 70 will be unhappy with their lot. Some will resign — which is not necessarily a bad thing because we can replace them with real top talent.

Many are likely to state that they've not been given the support the 30 were given and they want to avail of it now. Great. We can now assist them to become star performers.

Yes, this is simplified. Yes, there is more to it than this.

First, it demands commitment to results from senior management. In this, we must remember that commitment is different - very different - to a verbal agreement that it should be done and getting HR to act on it. Commitment means living it. If senior management follow similar practices to those they want adopted, it sends a very powerful message to everyone in the organisation.

Second, it needs a different approach to appraisals that brings not just a non-threatening way of measuring performance but instead a very positive one.

Third, the support must be practical and results-oriented. The 'usual' leadership and motivational theories must be replaced by simple, logical and straightforward approaches in dealing with people and processes — and ones that work.

As the many illustrative live cases in "Lead To Win" show, it can be done. Yes, it takes effort to change long-ingrained habits. The step-changes in morale and performance make the effort rewarding: to everyone in the organisation, to customer satisfaction, to quality of delivery, to costs and to profits.

Thanks, Homestead. It was good to be with you and thanks for the pics and write-up!

Spent time with some nice management-level folks in Homestead, presenting a short overview of Part 1 of "Lead To Win". They raised great questions and also gave a very positive feedback.

Thanks, Homestead. It was good to be with you and thanks for the pics and write-up here: https://www.facebook.com/HomesteadIndia/posts/568142556618221

Progressive company gets Recruiting Managers and HR working together to revolutionise the way they recruit.

  Managers and HR at Tata Projects Limited joined forces to align to the same goal - effective recruitment.

The first set of participants

Part of the process for enhancing organisational performance is to ensure you recruit/select people most likely to be “winners” in their specific role. Unfortunately, in many companies, even experienced interviewers do not understand the determinants of high performance, so end up recruiting on the basis of skills, knowledge, qualifications, and experience. As has been proved, time and again, these elements are far from adequate.

Getting it right more often requires an almost totally new way of defining the needs of the job and also understanding how to interview in a way that obtains valuable information about the candidate’s strengths against these needs.

Success in this venture also demands a team approach between managers and HR to ensure they are both looking for, and assessing, the same vital attributes.

This what the two-day Recruiting Winners Workshop was planned to help the two sets of participants groups achieve. Although the workshops were in early November, the participants have already started implementing the new ideas with enthusiasm. Now we are all watching and waiting to see what their efforts will achieve.

The second set of participants

 Tata Projects Limited (TPL) was established in 1979 as an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Company in the Engineering Sector of the Tata Group. It is one of the earliest and very few Indian EPC companies which have acquired the triple certifications of ISO 9001, 14001 & OHSAS 18001. Today, TPL is one of the leading EPC Companies in India.
As a part of its corporate sustainability TPL serves the community in the areas of employability skill development, primary education, safe drinking water and health. In line with the Tata Group philosophy, it also takes up Affirmative Action initiatives.