Have you accepted yourself as a work of PERFECTION?

[Accepting yourself as a work of perfection is possibly the best gift you can give to yourself at the start of a new innings at your employer. This is piece is intended to make you reflect on some questions that will stay with you through your career. It isn't intended to be advice. If it left you with more questions in your mind at the end of the piece,my writing would have served its purpose. For historical posts as well as a collection of some communication with my team you can visit the blogs: http://stephenremedios.tumblr.com/ AND http://letterstomyteam.tumblr.com/ ]

Inspiration is all around us… even in the people who come to you asking to be inspired. That’s my tale for today. I had an email with the subject – “Just another trainee” asking if I had time to chat. Being the way I am, it came as to no surprise to me that I made a quick estimate of how long it would take to finish an email that I was writing and send out a reply saying we could meet in 10 minutes. I had not the vaguest idea about what Walter (fictional name) wanted to talk about! But I was excited. My day hadn’t been a great one. But I was making a conscious effort to choose my experience, and I chose to be happy.

One of the things I learned early in my career was that as a leader, you can’t justify non-delivery of commitments you make to your team on the basis that commitments made to you had not been honored. A ‘leader’ once stone faced told me – “I’m not even sure about what’s happening to my career, leave alone yours!”. So taking a leaf out of Dee Hock, a leader I really admire I implemented one of his ideas - PhD in Leadership, Short Course: Make a careful list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don't do them to others, ever. Make another list of things done for you that you loved. Do them for others, always. So in my little book, I wrote that day – When you are having a bad day, go out of your way to make sure that people around you experience you as having one of your best days. Make the careers of your people more important than your own. ALWAYS. So in a very special way, Dee Hock inspired what was to follow.

Walter wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about, so we built rapport for a while, got to know each other better and then I asked the question – “So what can I do for you?” That’s a reasonably powerful question for me because it doesn’t narrow the scope of a coaching conversation. It allows the person being coached to define the agenda. Anyways, what struck me was that Walter had a very rich articulation of what the problem was – nothing he did was good enough, he wasn’t comfortable with the stony exterior that he had developed over some time. I don’t intend to dwell on the discussion we had after the status quo was ascertained, but examine the question we often ask ourselves – “Am I good enough?”. Consider this powerful piece of writing:

*Perfection is a state in which

things are the way they are,

and not the way they are not.

If you're not all right the way you are

it takes a lot of effort to get better.

As you can see, this universe is perfect.

Realize you're all right the way you are,

and you'll get better naturally.

Don't lie about it.

You're god in your universe.

You caused it.

You pretended not to cause it.

so that you could play in it,

and you can remember you caused it

any time you want to.

Choosing to acknowledge yourself as a work of perfection is perhaps one of the most powerful steps you can take to realizing your ample potential. The answer to the question –“Am I good enough” must ALWAYS be a resounding – “YES, YES, YES”.

The second question Walter raised was – “How do I know if I fit in this company?”. This is both a simple and deep question at the same time. I proposed a simple set of counter questions:

- “Have you added value to yourself as a person in the last 12 months?”

- “In the last 12 months have you had to make an compromises in your value system?”

- “If you weren’t working here, where would you rather be working and why?”

- “Is your grounded view of yourself consistent with the view the organization has of you?”

- “Have you experienced any loss of authenticity / integrity in order to be ‘successful’?”

- “Are you modifying your behavior in order to FIT IN?”

- “Are you happy waking up and spending most of your day at the organization?”

There is no finite answer to the question – “When is the right time to quit?”. But I can offer two anecdotes that left a deep impression on me. The first is the sterling example of Adam Gilchrist, who quit when he was still very much on top of the game and a certainty on the team. He however after dropping a catch that he reckoned he should have taken, observed that he had begun to collect the ball deeper in the gloves that he used to earlier in his career. He famously said – “It is better to quit and have people say – WHY?, rather than WHY NOT?”. The second in the example of Brin & Page who graciously wielded leadership of their company when they believed it needed a new direction. There are similar examples in the Indian IT industry too where leaders have been very willing to step aside and make way for the next generation. Leaders in this space aren’t motivated by cues they get from the external world, or third party validation. They are run by their internal compass. And they know, they are perfect.

I was over to the XIMB campus recently where I was asked the question – “How have you managed to build a 10 year career in the same company?”. Before I tell you what my answer was I want to make a small distinction. The distinction between ‘loyalty’ & ‘trust’. Loyalty is derived from old French meaning ‘faithful in carrying out legal obligations’. Trust arises from Old Norse, which meant ‘help, confidence’. Loyalty is company centric, Trust is leader centric. One can remain loyal to an organization while working for many different bosses, but trust is determined by your line manager. Trust then is the space that your line manager gives you to ask for help, and the confidence that he inspires in you as you work with him. Now that the distinction is out of the way, onwards to my response – “My 10 year experience of the company has made me a loyal manager, but the day I no longer trust my line manager, my loyalty will be put to the test!. Thus far this hasn’t happened, and I whistle to work most of the time”. Back then to an examination of your PERFECTION

If you could really accept

that you weren't perfect

you could stop proving you were perfect

If you could stop proving

that you were perfect

you could get that is was perfect not to be perfect.

If you could get that it was perfect not to be perfect

you could get that you were perfect the way you are.

You're PERFECT, get it?*

* Both passages used are extracted from a Book penned by Werner Erhard called - If God Had Meant Man to Fly, He Would Have Given Him Wings.

XIMB & Me

My days at XIMB were an eye-opener and the institute seemed a totally new world (although I hail from Bhubaneswar). It made me acutely aware about my huge shortcomings and yet, progressively imbibed in me a confidence and a killer instinct. It taught me neither to be obsessed with existing competition (my batch mates) nor be fixated at short-term (current semester performance) results.  It taught me not to be overwhelmed by competition but to try to think out of the box, stretch my management skills and convert threats to opportunities.

Mark Twain had said, “never let school interfere with your education.” I must confess that there were ample scope of learning outside the classroom as well. In fact, there was no clear demarcated border where the classroom ended and hence the education. We were able to spend quality time with professors, staff and batch mates around the campus. It was easier then as the institute was new and everyone was raring to go and had a point to prove. It was made easier as our class size was 48 which seemed like a typical Indian joint family. The grandfathers were the late Fr. Bogaert and Fr. D’Souza. Funnily, some of our batch mates were like father figures.  I was the infant being newly minted from college whereas we had 40 year old mates with families to look after and I am not talking about the executive or evening programmes. The sex ratio was highly skewed (about 1 to 5 in favour of men) which would have made even Haryana blush. That didn’t stop many of our batch mates to change their marital status while in the campus. The typical mating season was the very first semester but a mid-course correction took place at the beginning of the second year. After that people settled down well and focussed amongst other things to improve their CQPI.

An embarrassing moment at XIMB was when I mistook a new lady teacher (name withheld) for a student of the junior batch and I got into a mild ragging. And when the teacher came for her first appearance to our class, I was twitching and twirling. Fortunately, she was magnanimous and mature enough not to settle score through grades (I couldn’t have got any worse!). She just settled the score by enjoying my embarrassing stupor in class. We were lucky to have some excellent faculty like Prof. Vijayraghavan, Prof Govindrajan, Fr D’Souza, Prof Uday Damodaran and Prof Suma Damodaran. Singling out any one of them would be unfair but the true efficacy of these teachers were understood when I have been doing business in the big bad world. And today we are facebook and linkedin buddies with our teachers.

It goes without saying that my life would not have been the same had XIMB not been one of the institutions that shaped my personality. Today, I am running an entrepreneurial business with a turnover of about USD 400 million and am able to hold my own against the major global trading companies – which is a testament to XIMB. It gave me a well-rounded knowledge and the wisdom to remain a student throughout my life.

The author, Mr. Pinaki Rath, is an XIMB Alumni (batch of 1991).

He is currently the Managing Director, Gold Matrix Resources, Singapore

Mom, Dad! Listen to me for once!

Dear Mom & Dad!

Another year has passed! I am seventeen years old now! These seventeen years have brought about tremendous changes in me! I’ve learnt a lot in these years and I am a lot wiser than I was ten years ago! I have grown up listening to every word of what you say. Whatever I am today is because of you. But today, I want you to listen to me!

Today, I have completed my schooling and I am looking forward to my graduation. You are aware of my interest in painting & drawing. You probably acknowledge that I am creative. You do not know that I can excel these areas. Your definition of a career ends with engineering, medicine or an MBA. But today, the world has many more options than these. And I want to choose a different path – I want to be a painter! Will you listen to me this one time?

Mom, do you remember the day when I was five years old and I wrote the alphabets in a haphazard manner? I thought it looked artistic but you termed it as illegible. You compared me with the next door kid and expected me to be as good as him. You misunderstood my ability and pressurized me to write properly. It hurt; but it did not matter to you! Such comparisons continued all through my schooling and ended up stressing me throughout. You may not have realised the impact. But I will feel it!

Because your definition of achievement ends with my scoring more than the others, I have become a rote learner. Conceptually, I am very strong; but can I apply my learning anywhere? I doubt! I know Newton’s first law of motion by heart but I do not know where to use it! I can blurt out HCF and LCM of numbers like the back of my hand but I do not know where I can apply them! This stress has affected my learning apart from taking a toll on my health. Physics states that everything has a breaking point under pressure. This is true of human beings too. I am thankful that I did not hit one ever!

Dad, you are the wisest in the family! I believe every word of what you say! I trust your capabilities to manage the household, to take care of every one of our needs. Why don’t you believe in me and my capabilities? You have taught us the value of trusting people. But, it’s disheartening that you don’t trust me and my judgement or choice? If, as parents, you don’t believe in me, nobody will!

You keep telling me that I cannot succeed in life taking up something like painting. But that depends on how you define success, Dad! For you, success could mean wealth. For me, success could mean being happy and making others happy with what I do! Why can’t I work towards my success on my own terms?

Mom, you advise me everyday that if I need to succeed in life, I should work hard like Dad. Why then are you keen on giving me the easier options of engineering or medicine which have a sure shot career? Why can’t I choose something different and work hard to succeed in it?

I have never compared both of you to anyone else in the world. I have always believed that you are unique and I am proud of you. But why do you compare me with other kids most of the time? If other kids chose engineering, why do you insist that I choose the same? Please understand that I am unique with capabilities far different from anyone else. Try to understand that and help me grow with them rather than stifling them and making me a clone of your friend’s son!

Dad, I am aware that you wanted to be a doctor but could not make it to a medical school. But imposing your ambitions on me is not fair. It is a question of my life and I do not want to risk choosing something that does not interest me. You have taught me that to be best in something, I have to like it, love it and enjoy it! I am sure that I will not enjoy being a doctor! I agree that choosing medicine will give me a successful career. I am also aware that not choosing medicine will not result in a failed career. I have an example in you Dad!

It is not a question of engineering or medicine for me! It is a question of a cause or career! Most people do not understand the difference between a cause and a career. If Bill Gates had chosen a career in computers, he would have been working with IBM or Apple. If Richard Branson had taken to a career in engineering, he would have been an average middle class British citizen. These people committed themselves to a cause. Bill Gates wanted to make the Personal Computer truly personal. Richard Branson wanted to make flying across the Atlantic far cheaper than anything available. I can give you many more such examples. These people were successful because they committed themselves to a cause. I would like to do the same. Will you listen to me?

If you still feel that I must commit myself to a career, I will! I may not be happy about your choice but I will live with it. I may become materialistic but I will have a great career. You may feel proud that your son is a doctor or an engineer; I will be ashamed for sacrificing my interest! You will be happy that I am successful; I will regret that I lost my cause and happiness! Most importantly, you would have cloned your son to lead a life like your friend’s son; I would have lost my individuality! I am asking you one last time… Will you let me be myself?

Whatever your choice may be, I love both of you a lot!

Your loving son!

(Written on behalf of all those who wish to choose the untrodden path.)

Satisfaction Guaranteed?

By the time my dad had retired from his job, he had clocked close to 40 years in service. As if the number of years weren't intimidating enough, he managed to pass these 40 odd years in a single organization. Now that is awe-inspiring. In the 7-8 years of my professional experience, I have managed to change 4 organizations. If I look at my friends, I see almost the same trend and statistics. 

I can understand that things were different 30 years earlier when people held on to their jobs till retirement (for lack of options or other reasons), but what has changed now?  Do we jump jobs because we have more options now or are there other reasons for this behavior? At this point, I can only attribute this phenomenon to job satisfaction or the lack of it. Just because we have job satisfaction issues AND there are other options, we change jobs frequently. I know that I might be generalizing but then there are exceptions to anything, right?

That brings me to the issue of employees’ job satisfaction in organizations.  According to Wikipedia, "Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job;[1] an affective reaction to one’s job;[2] and an attitude towards one’s job. Weiss (2002) has argued that job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect (emotion), beliefs and behaviors. This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviors."

I talked to a few friends and colleagues and jotted down their parameters for gauging their job satisfaction. Here are the factors that determine their job satisfaction. These factors have been generalized and some of the sub-factors have been force-fitted into the main categories. They might not be true for everyone but they hold good for the general public. So here I go!

Money

Ok! So, this one figured very highly on everyone’s list. I just cannot buy in your theory if you say that money doesn’t matter. I could be wrong when it comes to all the remaining factors but certainly not this one. In this world of instant gratification, almost everyone dreams of retiring early with lots of money in their kitty. If the remuneration is good, then it affects an employee's performance and the way the job is executed. Apart from being satisfied with what the employee is getting, it should also be important for him/her to compare their compensation within and across industry/industries. Then there also sub-factors like hikes and bonuses which keep the employees happy and content. They should always feel that their efforts are being compensated monetarily with increments at regular intervals.  

Work- Life Balance

30 years ago, there was nothing called work-life balance or so I think. It’s a fairly new term and concept which now is an important factor in determining job satisfaction. The hours of work and the commute time determines the time spent by an employee in office, on the road and at home, with his/her family. Spending quality time with family helps an employee get over the fatigue induced by long hours at work.

It has been proved that employees of an organization which provides "work from home" option are more satisfied than the ones who don’t allow. This works out very well with working couples and this freedom is something that compels them to continue with that organization. I don’t know about everyone but many feel that office ergonomics play an important factor in keeping an employee satisfied. If the chairs and cubicle have good ergonomics, then it means one less thing to complain about, right?

Growth

Does your job helps in fostering growth or does it stifle you? The answer to this question is important to decode the job satisfaction puzzle. No one wants their life or career to stagnate. This stagnation is the root cause of dissatisfaction. If an employee feels that he/she is not gaining in terms of learning or skill enhancement, then it would invariably lead to dissatisfaction and mental unrest.  Other factors that are related to growth are responsibility and accountability as they boost an employee’s level of interest in the job and make them feel wanted.

Office Culture

Office culture determines whether you wake up and look forward to a day in office or drag yourself to work every day. The people you meet and the way they behave is what office culture is. Office culture of course has to do with HR policies and the inherent genetic build of an organization but it’s the people who make up the culture. Since an employee spends around eight or more hours a day in office, it is very important that office politics, co-workers and superiors are satisfactory. 

Job Security

Who doesn’t like stability and security! It is vital to every employee in any organization. The same is true for jobs. If the level of job security goes below a certain threshold, then it affects performance and confidence. 

The factors that influence job security are attrition rate, HR policies, economy and industry performance among other things. For example, if the economy is looking up then it means, there are more jobs in the market. This would obviously lead to a feeling of job security even if you are not quitting your organization.

Benefits

I would term any privileges which are non-salary as benefits. These could have financial implications or psychological effect. Benefits like health insurance, perks, reimbursement and vacations play an important factor in terms of job satisfaction.  You might have worked for quite a few years in an organization and feel that given your talent and knowledge, you should be eligible for some special privileges. 

After jotting down all the above factors, it makes sense to draw up the big picture by putting together the smaller pieces. So here is what I feel influences job satisfaction.

(click on the image above to enlarge)

I just tried to list down the factors that I thought might influence job satisfaction. I might be close or I might not be so close. The Job Satisfaction Index (JSI) changes with industry verticals. The JSI in IT industry is quite different than say in the financial sector. I’ll leave that discussion for some other time.

The author, Pijush Gupta is an XIMB ( PGP, 2003-2005) alumni. He blogs at www.pigtale.co.in

Let the mismatch grow!

Over the past few days I have been conducting job interviews at Jaipur for the vocational training institute that we have newly started here. The institute trains school drop-outs to become electricians, TV repair mechanics, mobile repairers, AC & Fridge mechanics, 2 wheeler & 4 wheeler mechanics etc. We are currently recruiting faculty who can teach these subjects - both theoretically as well as practically with a lot more emphasis on hands-on training. However, my experience in these interviews has left with me with a lot of startling thoughts.

We had given an advertisement in a leading daily in Jaipur (shelling out a fortune from a vocational training institute standards) asking interested, eligible candidates to walk-in for the interview. There were 4 people who turned up for the interview. Out of these one was working currently in the industry, one has been a faculty for many years and the other two were people looking for a stop-gap arrangement until their endless wait for a government job comes to a happy ending. I was shocked, to say the least! I have had similar experiences in interviews conducted across MP & UP as well.

I have always thought that Jaipur is one of the larger metros in the country, more developed than at least its other BIMARU counterparts - Bhopal, Lucknow or Patna. I assumed that getting qualified faculty would not be a problem in such a large city. Add to it, the number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state of Rajasthan - a staggering 729 (Source: NCVT Website); the third highest number of ITIs in India. On an average, each ITI has 2 trades with around 21 students in each trade summing up to 30,618 students graduating each year. Jaipur district alone has nearly 110 ITCs (Private ITIs) which has an approximate throughput of nearly 3000 students each year. These numbers would make anyone vouch for the availability of skilled manpower but sadly the reality states otherwise.

Almost all the 110 ITCs in Jaipur offers the Electrician trade. However, out of the four candidates who came for the interview, just one was from the Electrician trade. Happy to have got at least one, I questioned him on the basics of electricity and was keen to know if he can install a fan or a tube light. He drew a blank mentioning that it was not part of the "practical" syllabus. I cornered him saying that if even an untrained person could install it, why not him. He admitted that he has learnt it theoretically but never did it practically and hence lacked the confidence to do the same. That's appalling! I never imagined in my wildest of dreams that such would be the state of trained technical manpower in Jaipur. I shudder when I think of these candidates joining electricity boards and managing our power lines. The only consolation - this could be a one-off case - one candidate is not a sizeable sample to arrive at conclusions!

I have seen that most people who pursue an ITI course do so purely for a government job. In Rajasthan, the major employer is the Rajasthan State Electricity Board. In MP & UP, it is the Indian Railways. A job in the government gives them the job security for lifetime and the possibility of earning much more through other unethical means. The competition to join these departments is tough but some of the 'financially abled' make it through, thanks to corruption spread across all levels. The recent question paper leakage of railway examinations is just one case. Having spent a lot of money, time and effort in getting a government job, these people have tremendous pressure to recover their 'investment' as soon as they get the job. Bribe, otherwise called "Bhent", "Pet Pooja" or "Kharcha Paani", is such an addiction that can never stop until you quit or get caught! Even after you get caught, you can bribe your way out!

On the one hand, we have a huge population which only wants a government job and on the other hand we have a large number of students who go to the ITIs but never learn the skill-sets. The first question most students pose to our counsellors is if the course is government certified and if they can get a government job post course completion. When we reply in the negative, they are just not interested in learning anything. When we counsel them that we prepare them for self-employment, so they do not need to depend on the government, they are not very keen. Entrepreneurship is not something they wish to take up mainly because of the risks involved in it. But more importantly, for them, a government job means no risk, less work and more money!

Unfortunately, industries too suffer because of the non-availability of trained manpower. A lot of industries spend time and money in retraining these candidates to make them productive. Training institutions such as ours struggle hard to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of training technical manpower. However, while being a supplier of talent we also have a demand for skilled manpower which remains un-fulfilled many a times.

Most importantly, it is the common man who suffers because of non-availability of such trained manpower. There are not enough electricians in the market; not enough plumbers in the market; not enough AC repair mechanics; not enough Refrigerator mechanics; just not enough! The well-to-do families do not want their children to become an electrician - they would rather do an MBA and be a "Manager" or a "Businessman". The middle class families aspire their children to become "Engineers" & "Doctors". The lower-middle income families aspire their children to get into a government jobs. The lower income families are happy even if they could afford some schooling for their children. If this situation continues, 10 to 15 years from now, there will be a huge dearth of electricians, plumbers, mechanics etc.

Simple economics states that when demand increases and supply remains constant, the price is likely to go up - a situation where an electrician will make more money than the MBA. I truly hope that one such day dawns. May be then, people & government will start thinking about some serious vocational education to be included in our school syllabus. May be then, kids will also start aspiring to be electricians and plumbers. May be then, vocational education would not be only for the underprivileged or the poor.

Until that day dawns, my good lord - let the mismatch grow!

Hi

Hi Guys,
I am PGP 2003-2005 batch student from XIMB.
It is great to see so many activities going on in the campus.
Wishing you all the best.
My personal email: abhijitmisra@gmail.com
It would be great, if I could be of some help.
Regards
Abhijit Misra