By Prof. Vinay Dhumale
With major western economies still moving in and out of ICU on a regular basis, the issue of optimization of resources has regained the primacy. In this kind of a scenario the safest sanctuary seems to be ‘cutting of costs’. The million $ or (now) million Yuan question is How?
It’s always music to the ears of bosses to hear the sweet tune of ‘cutting of costs’ but only the project managers sweating it out (or shivering it out… depending on the geography) on the battle front realize the real impact and the hardships -
Simple… they lose their sleep.
At this point in time instead of slugging it out with corner office, it’s much better to try to do a bit of ‘business yoga’. Consider this:
‘Leverage your strengths’
What does it mean and how is it going to bring in the desired results?
We all are aware that we have multiple skills, talent or flairs but at the workplace normally we are encouraged and are trained only in those specific areas where we excel most of the times; weaker streams of talent are overlooked or shunned. As such other skills, strengths, which we possess, in varying degrees, are neglected and as a consequence the live streams of such latent talent start drying off as there is no value attached to it. In the normal times we can afford this luxury but can we afford after what we are experiencing now?
In a sense there is a draught of resources all over…yet the businesses have to go on…they can’t stop that would be an invitation to an unprecedented calamity.
In this context it is interesting to note that Bombay Municipal Corporation has started the work of re-excavating old wells (they have vital live streams) in Mumbai which had been capped off for last so many decades…Unusual times need out of box solution.
Can it not be applied to HR and the present scenario…With bit of creative thinking and a process of reinventing ourselves; sure we can recharge/energize those latent strengths and after taking a deep (intellectual) breath, sequence them in the best possible order. Harnessing such multiple streams of strengths will be relatively easier job and will add enormous value to the business process.
Life is (also) a game of cards and however mighty an industry or a business might be it cannot defy the basic rules of life. One cannot expect to get all 4 aces all the times and when it comes to lower denominations like the 8 of Spade or the 4 of Clubs or the 3 of Hearts, intelligent sequencing of the cards on one hand and throwing away the unwanted high denomination cards helps you achieve the rummy and the rubber. Lower denomination cards do not necessarily mean that it is the end of the road. We should not be discouraged by that…we need to sequence lower denomination cards in a productive way and be back in the game.
We all need to change our attitude
The issue of highlighting only our shortcomings (in certain areas) gets priority to such an extent that nourishment/encouragement to those areas where we have already proven our mettle gets a low priority. This point was brought in to arena so well by R. Ganesh, VP – HR, Oracle Financial Services, (in his workshop) at SHRM India - MTHRG convention in Kolkata the other day. A child coming with grade card to parents always has to undergo such a traumatic experience. As a rule the parents will conveniently not be impressed by the child’s sterling achievement in say Geography but will constantly gripe about the child getting few marks less in say, Math. Can we not encourage the child first over the success of Geography and send the child on a Himalayan trek as a reward for the achievement in Geography and then slowly empower the child to excel even in Math. Try it out - it works.
Frankly we all need to know ourselves first and then change ‘as to how we look at ourselves and evaluate ourselves’ by rearranging our various talents and strengths. I believe we all are 16 cylinder engines, but running on 2 cylinders because nobody has demanded the firing of remaining ones.
If companies and the HR teams go on this trail of encouragement and nurturing of latent talents of individuals, there will be an explosion of talent…because then each one will come with variety of talents and strengths and all that would remain to be done is just organising them for the best possible results.
The strengths are hidden within us, but often, we refuse to allow them to come up to the surface for the fear of overshadowing our prime strength. Now is the time to leverage the strengths of not only one individual but of the entire work force. The teams will perform amazingly…other day on TV, one heard Raghavan the co founder of Infosys saying “those were the tough days because everything was scarce, we (including the now legend Narayana Murthy) 6 were staying in one flat in Paris, Murthy used to get up at 4 am because there was only one bath room each one had his turn then… I use to cook, Murthy used to cut vegetables and the third one used to do the housekeeping before going to office…yet we managed” the team not only managed to survive but excelled in an unprecedented way…this is leveraging strengths…Infosys cannot be created in a day….you require team and you require team spirit and you require to cut vegetables before facing the client in an alien land and also win.
The strengths are there… they need to be unleashed….just by leveraging we could create history.
When the master sculptor Michelangelo was complimented on the great skills he possessed as he was carving out the immortal expression on the face of Virgin Mary… in response he wryly said “the expressions were already there on Virgin Mary’s face (in the marble) all I did was to just chip off the unwanted marble! ”
If not the marble can we not cut the dead wood and allow the fresh streams in the individuals to flourish and when each one does it to himself… a workforce of 100 will do the job of 1000s. Without cutting the workforce you have already increased it.
The author is Hon. Dean & Lead Mentor, MBA program, Manipal Institute of Media & Entertainment
