Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Take a bow Sachin Tendulkar- Tribute from an unabashed fan

For those of you who have not read “Jonathan Livingston the Sea Gull” by Richard Bach, its a story of a Sea Gull who always wanted excellence in what he does best- “ flying” , always wanting to scale a new peak when rest of the flock thought it cannot be done, always at competition with himself to achieve the greatness ,ever so obedient student of flying and always at hand to teach a protégé a thing or two. As I saw Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar bat today against Sri Lanka on a marble floor of pitch at Colombo, I felt if Richard Bach were to witness his remarkable career would rename the book as “Sachin Tendulkar the Sea Gull”. What a player, what a maverick. 94 hundreds (48 Test and 46 ODIs) in an International Cricket, 21yrs of play and he still carries the charm of 20yr old out of an academy side.

What’s more striking was the fact that he made Suresh Raina, playing his 1st test match concentrate hard and score runs at the same time. I am sure Suresh would be thanking his stars tonight when he goes to bed that he has an University of Cricket with him at the other end of the crease. Sachin today wasn’t battling the bowlers, he wasn’t bothered by the scores, he had another battle to be won that of saving the match for the country and a small matter of fact record to be set right (hasn’t scored a test 100 in Sri Lanka for 11yrs, that’s quite an absurd stat). The relief was all to be seen when he scored that 4 behind the square of Suraj Randhiv (another debutant, probably thinking what makes him so special when the shot was completed)

For all the joy you have given to millions and millions of fans and connoisseurs of the game of cricket and making us feel proud Indian, Take a bow Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, perhaps the greatest batsman and a true sportsman of this century…

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Conversation on Managerial Effectiveness

One of my friend recently sent me a mail asking my thoughts on "how to calcuate Managerial Effectiveness", I have tried summerising my conversation with him thru this post.

Hi Madhu
Needed your help in one of the initiatives that we intend to launch - basically a mechanism to measure people orientation of managers. While it is a very subjective area, we are trying to create some tangible measures to create an Index that can be measured and tracked. Easiest would have been a 360 degree feedback, but that is not feasible given the culture right now.

A few measures that come up immediately could cover

- Number of training programs nominated / attended by team members
- Attrition (but how to discount factors beyond manager's control)
- Emp Satisfaction Index
- Succession planning for key positions
- Performance evaluation as per plan - Completion % of KRA setting, Perf Evalaution compliance etc
- Number of suggestions by team into Employee Suggestion Scheme

But the trouble is that these are all "input" measures and the initiative could just end up driving compliance.

What I am looking for are some "output" measure like say Team Feedback Score for a Manager etc.

My Reply to him:

Dear Nandish

Good to hear from you.. it’s not always dirty out there in Behavioral Science, its more than challenging and fun to be in this quandary than applied science

a. As you rightly said, most of the below mentioned measurements (if I may call so) are inputs measurements and can be used as a compliance measurements, however if you go beyond the normal, you can look at the bottom line additions thru them. For example: you can see the obvious as “how many ideas a “A” manager’s team has given”, the abnormal stuff is to see “how many of these ideas have contributed to real time impact on the team or the organisation” (Engagement, Innovation Culture, Out of the box thinking, Team Work are the measurable competencies)


b. Since it’s a knowledge driven industry, I guess having ES Survey, with specific questions around Output from the Managers, will help in measuring, this is the most sought after and easiest way to do it.

c. Also look at TEAM TRUST INDEX, this not only measures Trust Levels in the team, but also helps in knowing what is the kind of trust reposed in the managers by team.

d. You can also look at BELBIN TEAM EFFECTIVENESS (you need to be certified to conduct this)

e. You will also have to decide on the focus of your Index, will it be “Team Centric”, “Individual Centric” or “Organizational Centric”, based on which you can use different tools like (a) Team Trust Index or Belbin for Team (b) 360* Feedback or simple NMA (if people are ok to give feedback) or (c) Employee Satisfaction Survey with specific thrust on Output

Summary of my work around the same I am giving you, it might help you…

If you are measuring “Team Leadership” then look at

a. Measurement of Change in Team Effectiveness

b. Measurement of Change in Team Outputs- if you can correlate these two and measure the effectiveness it will be a good Team Measurement

If you are measuring “Individual Leadership" then look at

a. Measurement of Change in Competencies thru 360*

b. Measurement of Change in Individual Results- If you can correlate these two and measure the effectiveness it will be a good “Individual Measurement” as well as “Program Effectiveness Measurement”

If you are measuring “Organizational Leadership” then look at

a. Measurement of Change in Team Outputs

b. Measurement of Change in Individual Results- these can give organizational level measurement.

Topographical Model

Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically according to Freud.

The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible.

The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious.

Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

My Take on the Model:

The above description of Human Psyche according to Segmud Freud opens up a Pandora Box of doubts in my mind with respect to psychoanalysis or use of psychometric tools in knowing one’s personality, if the Conscious is so little and lot remains in Preconscious or Nonconscious minds, how and what is the best way to increase the Conscious self of human beings. I assume if one were to know even 20% more about ‘self’ than what he or she already knows, it will not only help in self development but also help the organisations in many aspects of human development.