How to run an institution well
This article lists common principles that are important to run any institution well.
1.????Identify core value
Things like vision and mission are passe.?What truly matters is the core value an institution lives up to.?This can be trust, respect, quality, reliability, integrity, national interest or any other. Once a value is chosen that applies everywhere. To uphold trust, one needs to hire trust-worthy employees, transparent processes and institution should not hide behind technicality when it comes to honouring the word given or expectation set. The core value pervades everywhere. This is in contrast to making it applicable only to customers or shareholders or employees. Every employee, customer and stakeholder and partner should know the institution as the torchbearer of the chosen core value. For an educational institution it can be work ethic or discipline, but then it should apply to students as well as teachers. For an institution in transportation it may be safety.
However overdoing core value is not advisable. In particular, when it comes to interactions with those who have none of it.
Even otherwise our ancient wisdom postulates "Ati Sarvatra Varjayet" : Extremes/Excess should be avoided under all circumstances. It is immaterial whether it is good or bad. As a corollary to this, something antithetical to core value is acceptable, if the circumstances are extreme and exceptional. This again is repeatedly reaffirmed in epics.
Core value can not be decided in isolation. It also depends on culture, psyche of people involved and their purpose. Thus for a knowledge organization, collaboration as a value is natural choice. Another institution where people with operational mind-set are there, planning effectiveness and dependability may be the right choice.
2.????Choose a motto
An institution with knowledge as motto can operate in guru-shishya mode, where knowledge perpetuates. Taking the knowledge tradition forward itself becomes employment as well as enterprise. Here knowledge is created for the sake of knowledge.
Motto and core value go hand in hand. An institution with national interest as core value can choose a motto to make India Atmanirbhar or attain global leadership or any other way national interest is best served.
3.????Strategic Diamond and Value Triangle
The four corners of the strategic diamond are strategic vision, depth, breadth, and distance. Strategic vision is about investing in something that others do not see as valuable. The USA bought Alaska from Russia by paying a premium in the 1900s, which proved to be very valuable. If Russia had it today, they would have greater leverage. Strategic depth is about being exceptionally good at something, if one offering fails, a sequence of other offerings can be made available. Strategic breadth is about making broad forays into multiple areas so that there is greater resilience in institutional performance. Strategic distance is about keeping away from certain markets, customers, stakeholders, topics, programs, activities, and mindsets.
Strategic patience and strategic wait are other two important traits. Do not do something just because everybody else is doing it or you need to be seen to be doing something. In fact doing something without adequate thought can take one further away from their goal. On the other hand, once a right choice is made, choosing the right timing is also extremely important.
A strategic diamond will remain on paper unless accompanied by a well-operative value triangle. Here the people operationalize strategies thrive as they are valued(respected, cared for), get to add value through their contributions, and their potential and contributions are valued with appropriate compensation and incentive structure as well as intangibles. For knowledge organizations and learning institutions, a value quadrilateral is more apt, here as employees get more and more learning opportunities, they derive enormous value from their work experience, which in turn brightens their job prospects. The employee-employer journey proves to be a win-win.
There can also be value impedance when value system of individuals and value system of institutions do not align.
4.????Define a balanced framework of rules
Whether we call them policies or by any other name, every institution needs a set of rules. Here it is important to have a mix of normative, punitive, and coercive rules in decreasing order of preference. Generally, make choices when it comes to employees, customers, beneficiaries, partners, or any other stakeholders so that those who follow norms are preferred. Also have only such rules that are easily followed with reasonable allowances, bounds, and exceptions. Even if this means bearing certain opportunity costs. In very few cases coercion should be used and any punitive rules should be well-deliberated. Inculcate a culture such that normative rules become the norm.
To explain with examples, in interpersonal relationships, always responding to others' messages in a timely manner is normative, delayed response or silent treatment is punitive, and blocking accounts and barring calls is coercive. At a transactional level, accepting calls and returning calls is normative. Not picking up calls and not returning calls is punitive. Cutting calls and not following up with a message is coercive. Repeated punitive action also ends up being coercive.
In public life, expecting people to park in designated places and providing such places and marking areas as no-parking only when it is really required is normative. Penalizing people through fines for traffic offenses is punitive. Towing cars and putting clamps is coercive, Generally, coercive actions cause trauma and disaffection and should be avoided both in private and public spheres.
Once an institution gets into coercive culture, it is very hard for it to revert to normative culture. When it comes to culture, it is not enough if we have good leaders and managers. In general, anyone who is in a vantage position or has leverage on others may develop a propensity to harass, ill-treat or be harsh with others. This may be a junior employee, senior employee, or anybody who routinely interfaces with other stakeholders.
5.????Impel, compel and propel
Some people only need moral pressure to do the right thing or their jobs right. There are some core activities where people need to be compelled and hopefully, these are rather few. In the midst of these two, for many activities, people need to be propelled by their own passion or emergent need which simply necessitates them to participate. In an institution, it may be a customer requirement or escalation that can propel strong action. Some may be very passionate as their job and volition align with each other.
Here impel is about intrinsic motivation and at times even propel may be about intrinsic motivation. Compel and propel are generally about extrinsic motivation.
6.????Instinct, Intuition, Intelligence and Intellect
Different people are good at different things. In different situations, different faculties are required. To a person new to a job and to a person handling a very complex endeavor, instinct is very important to navigate the challenges.?Intuition comes into play when we apply or project our thought process from one realm to another, and see common patterns, and draw inferences. Intelligence is needed to do tasks, define policies and processes, risk management, and so on. Intellect is needed to strategize to protect an institution from uncertainties and harmonize ambiguities. A good institution needs to have a good mix of these capabilities.
The other two "I" defy this somewhat linear sequence are Ingenuity and Imagination. However, the most fundamental "I" every institution should cherish is Integrity.
7. Ego, Karma and Māyā
Irrespective of the kind of institution, every institution is impacted by these 3 factors. Ego manifested through its leaders makes an institution respond in a particular fashion which may prove costly in the course of time. The ego also leads to emotional responses. Emotions trigger a strong need for action or reaction, even when the issue at hand does not merit it. Good Karma earns goodwill and the bad one comes back to haunt us at an inopportune time. Most institutions and leaders have their own delusions which affect their belief systems and make them put too much emphasis and focus on certain principles or goals, making them more vulnerable on other fronts. At the same time, these things are important and inevitable parts of an institution’s mental make-up. Without ego, there may not be ambition and goals. All institutions are under some delusion or other till reality wakes them up.
When leaders think that they know all the answers and everybody else should defer to them, it can only lead to mediocrity.
Some men and women are majorly driven by emotions. The more reasonable a request you make the more unreasonable do they become. You complain that you are treated badly by them, and they treat you worse.?No logical arguments help. The stronger the argument more intense the repudiation. I call this repudiation bias. Such situations need completely different handling. ?Only a change in circumstances may change them if at all.
8.????Macro, Micro, Meso, and Emergent Leadership
There are many leaders who can operate at the macro level. Many more who can micro-manage and get outcomes. But the real trapeze act is to operate at the meso level. Mastering the operation at the meso level requires a good degree of elan. Here you do not remain oblivious to all the details nor do you get lost in them.
To give an analogy, the security of a Kingdom is defined by the security of its fort. If the fort survives the Kingdom can be reclaimed. In modern parlance, an institution should define that fort and defend it and not drain its energy in peripheral issues. At the same time, the periphery also needs to be watched for security issues and anomalous events. In general, if you model an institution as a fort, middle, and periphery. Once competent middle managers are in place, a leader should leave the middle to them, He/She should zealously guard the fort and be very alert and sensitive to what is happening at the periphery which is where citizens may interface with an institution.
Generally, a senior leader should focus on Macros and operational managers about Micro-level issues. But depending on the circumstances and the demand any leader can take on any responsibility. Such an approach is termed emergent leadership (Maloney 2020). A leader emerges in a given situation. The same principle can be used when even a CEO depending on his strength can delve into micros and a middle manager becomes the voice of conscience on Macros, and the CEO yields to the middle manager.
It may seem counter-intuitive when I say this. Whereas it is important to groom leaders, a leader moving out of a position, and anointing a successor should be avoided. Leaders should emerge based on their performance with a groundswell of support in their favour.
9.????Delegating Tasks vs. Delegating Responsibilities
When you delegate tasks, you create followers and when you delegate responsibilities you create leaders. Many leaders are so attached to their way of doing things that they only delegate tasks. They prescribe rather than describe. Even the processes become overly detailed with all kinds of targets, reviews, and pace-setting.?This disempowers anybody with initiative and ingenuity. Finally, neither the person who delegates nor to whom the task is delegated gets a sense of fulfillment. Thus, every delegation requires a sustained dialogue to set the right expectations. There are always implicit expectations.
When one delegates, in addition to other qualities, an important trait one should never miss is maturity. If maturity is amiss, thorough work will lead to missing forests and counting trees.
When responsibility is delegated or a new person is hired for a job, it is important not to have anybody else do back-seat driving. Doing an unwillingly delegated role is like driving a driving school car where the instructor has a brake all the time.
Having said the above, roles that are sensitive such as those that impinge on national security, need persistent oversight and selection criteria, It goes without saying that one with high values should be selected. In addition, emotional detachment coupled with wisdom is very important. For example, young and na?ve spend days wondering why someone treated them so badly. The wise and experienced spend days wondering why someone treated them so nicely and so well.
As a broader principle, authority and accountability should go hand in hand. Some leaders however centralize authority but decentralize accountability, which is rather counter-productive.
10.????Tasks, Jobs, and Roles
Some are good at only tasks, but they do them reliably, periodically, routinely, and at times very well. They simply do what they are asked to do. Some do jobs well which comprise many a task with objectives. There is always a question of whether a man defines a job or a job defines a man. Many a time men do the job of their own volition. They choose what they like to do and just do it. Some change/expand the definition of the job itself and do them with a sense of purpose. Doing a role means going beyond the jobs at hand and taking accountability, setting directions, collaborating with others, and so on.?The task to job to the role is not really an improvement hierarchy. It is more of a mindset. Thus, it is important to match mind-sets with tasks, jobs, and roles at hand.
Generally, people who do important roles should not be assessed on tasks completed. As one elevates the contribution it becomes fuzzier and more ill-defined as well as intangible yet very significant. To draw a parallel I use an old quote: "The House of Lords do nothing in particular, but they do that especially well". Here what is expected is political sagacity in protecting a country from rushing headlong into a crisis.
11.????Content-aware vs. Context-aware
Whether it is a task, job or role can be done in a content-aware manner, where the processes are executed and the policies are adhered to. It is equally important if not more important to operate in a context-aware manner.?When a task is done in a context-aware manner, it is more likely to meet the purpose at hand. When a job is done in a context-aware manner, it is unlikely to suffer from ‘not my job” syndrome. It can lead to redefining the job.?When a role is done in a “context-aware” manner, it can protect an institution from risks and prepare for uncertainties. Being context-aware is also about having the presence of mind and doing what is required even when it is not specified.
Generally, individual contributors need to be more context-aware and managers, coordinators, and leaders should be more content-aware to do their best without going overboard.
12.?????Learn from parallel computing
Whereas it is a good idea to distribute a task among many people, it creates communication/coordination overheads. Instead of dividing and distributing four tasks among four people, it may be better to assign each of them an individual task. In general limit the number of tasks a person does and limit the number of people involved in a task.
13.????Operations vs. Interventions
Certain processes and policies need to operate all the time. These consist of core activities that have to be done. However other policies and processes come into motion in response to a specific trigger or need in a particular context.?These interventions are transformative or protective.?Thus, any transformative and protective action should cease once the original trigger/insecurity no longer holds good. Secondly, the way intervention happens has to be continually redesigned lest it will become a ritual with marginal benefits.
At any point in time, the number of transformative processes/interventions should be very few and they should operate in a seamless manner with operational processes. Every year a review of all processes should be done and a constraint on a number of processes should lead to weeding out many interventions started earlier. In the same manner, the number of goals, objectives, and targets should be as few as possible, so that people can be easily mindful of them. Interventions should be targeted and broad-brush approaches should be avoided.
An institution should not spread itself too wide and too thin.
14.????Let better not come in the way of good
Whenever a new idea is proposed it gets countered with a better idea and neither the good idea nor the better idea fructifies. A sense of pragmatism and an execution mindset is very important.?Thus, it is better to evolve a good idea to a better idea. Instead of a heavy-duty framework that covers all bases, better to explore a set of changes and see how it is responded to by all the players involved. Does the change resonate with ground reality? Does it really take the institution to the right culture? These are extremely important questions.
15.????Potential vs. Kinetic Energy
It is natural for any institution to reward high performers who are very active and do the job at hand very well and sideline those who struggle to relate to what is expected.?In such a situation, it is important to be cognizant that those who are on the sideline may have the potential to rise to the occasion when the demands on the organization change. Generally, they are the ones who have the capability to contribute uniquely and significantly.
16.????Inorganic vs. Organic
An institution may hire high-potential resources who indeed perform well, but they seldom provide a multiplier. For an institution to excel organically, a high-potential hire should influence many others who are caught up in day-to-day action and make them introspect about their own potential and act on it.?That way an institution will grow in an organic manner. In contrast to this is inorganic growth, where you get new resources or partners continually, and no in-house capability ever gets built.
17.????Experience vs. Exuberance
Given a choice, most institutions will retain the young and let go of older or experienced personnel. This however depends on the discipline or field.?In fields such as IT which changes at a rapid pace, people keep talking about skills and ignore the experience.?At times, it is the inability of institutions to make use of experience and combine it with the exuberance of youth. Every institution does not necessarily have to be a pyramid. There are alternate structures such as Matrices?where people can thrive.
Most hirings happen when there is relatability. Here institutions typically hire from their competitors. Employees join workplaces where they know someone directly or indirectly. The experience a prospective employee has can be related to the new institution. At times institutions hire from the same campuses year after year. An institution looking for breakthroughs should go beyond conventional approaches and whenever an exceptional candidate is a prospect should accommodate him by breaking rules and barriers. As a corollary, for many competent persons who may have unique strengths many job opportunities may elude them as they fail to establish relatability.
18.????Resource Redundancy vs. Resource Variety
Generally, institutions swing between two extremes. Either they are short on resources or have resources who do not have adequate opportunities to contribute according to their potential. This is where imagination is required to use all resources on various engagements to build institutional capability.?A good amount of resource redundancy is required to be responsive to customers as well as new business opportunities.?In addition to resource redundancy, resource variety is key. In many cases when a new requirement comes institutions lack the resource variety to address it.
19.????Whose discretion is it anyway?
Cognitive discretion is another important trait of well-performing institutions. If an institution wants only a handful to apply their mind and the rest to just comply or any change would mean everybody has to change, such an institution is bound to underperform.??Letting people and leaders apply their minds in good faith and arrive at the best way to respond to a given situation or plan for their own task, job, role, or group, is key to success. No intelligent person would like to work in a place where he cannot use his cognitive discretion. Cognitive discretion is very different than one taking a decision and saying it is his call to do whatever he likes.
20.????Adaptive Enterprise
?JRD Tata acknowledged that his ability to understand highly capable leaders of different Tata Companies and accommodate their peculiarities and idiosyncrasies was one important critical success factor for the growth of Tata Group and its smooth and successful operation. Taking this point forward an institution can adapt to accommodate people or expect people to adapt to its culture. Some institutions require a disciplined band but only adaptive enterprises can create harmony. Thus in an adaptive enterprise, there are a good amount of exceptions and exemptions in addition to well-thought-out rules, processes, and structures.
21.????Lean Principle
In most cases, people believe that higher quality requires higher cost and time. But they neglect the third corner of the quality triangle i.e. scope. It is extremely important to obsessively define the scope of what is required by weeding out lots of good-to-do things that are seldom used. Every task/outcome/feature should have a customer, who is eagerly looking forward to it. If that is not the case there is a need for reengineering. Generally, pull is always better than push.
Lean Principle is best coupled with Kaizen, which advocates continuous improvements in small, meaningful steps, which are thought through. For every issue to be tackled, before you decide on what to do, ask why 5 times, why that issue arose.
22.????Quantitative versus Qualitative
It is important not to overdo metrics.?Goodhart’s law says “When a measure becomes a metric it ceases to be a good measure”. This holds true in practice. Whenever a target is set, people find a way to meet it without meeting the intent for which it is set in full measure. This will lead to supporting and auxiliary metrics and all kinds of complexity. On the flip side, a genuinely good contribution/contributor may not make the cut when targets are administered in a rigid manner. In general, administrative rigidity should be avoided at all costs.
Another issue with the quantitative approach is we need to settle for things that are easily and indisputably measurable. This would drive us to the lowest common denominator. Further good work in progress or any other intangibles get excluded.
A balance is very much needed while using metrics. More importantly, a qualitative approach with minimal metrics is far superior, where one really experiences what is on offer which is referred to as Pratyaksha Pramana in Nyāya Shastra. The other 3 are Shabda(testimony), Upama(analogy), and Anumana (Inference). But here no agendas should be there. Similar issues are there with the ranking of institutions. Both metrics and ranking tend to homogenize diverse institutions and drive them toward common denominators. That is not necessarily a good thing. Their aspirations and the actual impact they uniquely and collectively create should be the touchstone to recognizing superior performance.
Thus, when you hire exceptional people, assign them no particular tasks and set no particular targets and goals. Let them design their own charter and chart out their own path in order to contribute to the organization.
23. Self-Organization
Generally, most organizations run top-down. But whenever there is a team of competent persons who can work on their own, Self-organization is worth considering. This may involve things like work distribution. As work comes, depending on whoever is free they pick the work item in the pipeline. This can free up managers and leaders to work at one level higher and look at strategic initiatives.?Self-organized teams often work better than managed teams.
Self-organization also includes self-selection, here a person forms/proposes his/her own performance plan. This is in contrast to a top-down approach where the organization/manager defines the performance plan and goals.
Self-organization is one of the four important principles in eco-system theory. Others are adaptation, co-evolution, and emergence.?
24. Coevolution
When an employee works in a company both evolve with time.?Coevolution also happens among employees as well as among institutions.?Coevolution can be competitive, mutualistic, and exploitative. Mutualistic coevolution is when both institution and employee evolve in a synergistic manner.?During the combined journey of an employee and institution, there should be an opportunity for both to learn and grow. Otherwise, the togetherness is not worth it.?The Coevolution can be exploitative where either the employee or institution achieves their goals at each other’s expense. In competitive coevolution, employee and institutions play their own games which may converge or diverge
25. Emergence
Emergence is an important ecosystem phenomenon that can manifest itself in an institution. As emergence takes place, the behavior observed at the macro level is not obvious while examining the behavior at the micro level. Emergence means that the links between individual actions and the long-term systemic outcome are not that apparent. Thus, just individuals doing their job ethically and treating their peers and customers well without cognizance of any higher goals or directions can give very beneficial outcomes to an institution.?For example, a bank that employs just a few people with middle-class values may become an institution of choice for middle-class customers. Here employees were just being themselves. There may be many other interesting phenomena that need more studies.
26. Strategy vs. Tactics
A leader who is good at strategy need not be good at tactics and vice-versa. More importantly, being tactically good may lead to an institution to persist with a bad strategy for much longer. Thus, it is extremely important to evaluate strategies independent of tactics take a long-term and broader view, and shift to a better strategy. Once a good strategy is chosen, tactical aspects must undoubtedly be worked out in finer detail. Leaders may seek false comfort when by playing with tactics they may get good outcomes even with bad strategy. But such outcomes will not endure.
27. Optimization vs. Harmony
Most managers are trained on optimization. They are asked to hire the best and manage the resources In such a way that the best outcomes are realized. Any other consideration is modelled as yet another constraint. But when you lead an organization internal harmony is extremely important. This is about understanding the psyche of people. Many would rather take comfort in solidarity and camaraderie than competition. They have their own way to pursue collective action which indeed results in good outcomes.?However, harmony for the sake of harmony when institution languishes and core values get compromised is definitely not what we are talking about. ?Here you explore something without being mindful or rigid about what you are looking for. Then along the way you find it.
When we pursue optimization, we tend to objectify everything. Here we lose sight of what people really want. It may be something intangible which can not be factored in any equation mechanically.
When we pursue harmony, there is far less administrative rigidity. There are rules but it is the spirit behind the rules, intimate understanding of ground reality and cognizance of senior purpose, lead to making right call, with a balance of detachment and attachment.
28. Performance Limits
Irrespective of the size of an institution, its performance characteristics will be similar. In that sense they behave like scale-free social networks, that get reconfigured from time to time and context to context,. This is because institutions are social organisms where each part is conscious of the other part and relative order and positioning. Thus in most organizations, it is adequate if 20% excel and in general only 20% get to excel and only 20% do excel. When one set moves to the top, another set retreat and engage less. The other 80% are extremely critical for the institution's survival as well as the continued excellence of the 20%. Stars can shine only when night envelopes them.
Thus it is puerile to do an A,B,C analysis and weed out C performers. It is like removing the last coach of a train, with the reasoning that they are accident-prone.
29. Vyakti-Jāti Conundrum
In Nyāy Shastra Jāti is category and Vyakti is individual. Many times we do not realize that fundamentally people are driven by Jāti than Vyakti. Thus, for starters, every person believes that his/her partner is unique till they have to approach a relationship counselor who readily dispels such notion. Similarly, all employees, employers, managers, and bosses behave with greater commonality than one would imagine. Many times, we do not reckon it till an unusual situation arises. Other times we go by the delusion that bad things happen only to other people and in other institutions.
Then there are issues related to collective action when people coordinate their actions. Even institutions mimic each other. On the contrary, there are people who stand out and stand up against something that is patently unfair even when everybody else accepts it. Treat them as safety valve. But if things get worse, you may be tempted to replace them the way you replace a fuse. But remember, the issue is not the fuse, but why they fuse.
In this morass, what is important for institutions and leaders is how to handle difficult situations with grace and?for employees how to be resilient amidst adversity and if possible stand up and fight for justice in a timely manner, without defensiveness and guilt.
30. Research Angle
How do we know, we really know about something? In modern parlance, knowledge is an outcome of research. There are 3 ways to inquire into reality, according to Reason and Torbert (2001). The first-person research is research that we do by ourselves on ourselves. In an institutional setting, it is about assessing what one feels about oneself. Second-person research involves creating communities and groups and research is an outcome of conversations.?In third person research, the collective exercise is formalized and institutionalized. Indian tradition adds the 4th?dimension to research through “Transcendental inquiry” wherein researcher and research merge as a whole and there is a heart-to-heart connection between object and subject, thereby expanding the paradigm (Joy Sen, 2022). Here individuals personify the institution and become the institution. They live the core values, strive to realize the motto, and so on. That is the ultimate pinnacle for the institutions to climb.
31. Value Innovation
Most institutions mimic the approaches of their competitors and at times overly focus on competitors.?With value innovation as a strategy the approach is to deliver unique value or running a different race than the competitors. A typical organization excels by focusing on customer intimacy, operational excellence or unique products and services.?Generally when you focus on one of these you may lose sight of the other. For example, most banks and institutions use IVR based customer support channels . This they believe saves costs for them and improves access to the customers. Unfortunately this approach does neither. An untapped opportunity is to have call agents who pick the call right away without making customers going through all kinds of menu options and frustrating them.?Complement this with real people available to talk on phone in branches and service centers where a person has account or stays close by. That may be lot more efficient as well as satisfying to the customers, as human beings can continually improve and zero-in on what a customer needs right away. They also have social intelligence which automatons lack.
At times the way to compete and win is to give in to a contrarian impulse. The branch manager of a bank branch can introduce a visitor log and ask people to write comments which?he/she can be review daily. Did the visitor, get his task done, where he got stuck and so on? This simple intervention can achieve lot more than a sophisticated IT system at a fraction of cost and inconvenience.
32. Managing Perceptions
Perception about an institution is extremely important to attract new employees, among many other things.?This depends on the experience employees have working in that institution. Here firstly perception during entry into an institution is very important. This is when a new employee is likely to share the impressions with many others. Next the experience at exit is extremely important. That stays with them for very long.?Even tactically smoothening entry and exit of employees is a very smart thing to do. For example, take a restaurant, if the main course is very good, the quality of appetizers and desserts may not be important. Otherwise, it is smarter to differentiate with good choice of appetizers and unique desserts.??
33.Leading Leaders
We expect leaders to lead institutions. Who should lead leaders? In most cases, the leaders lead themselves.? Hence, the character, personality, values, priorities, and inclination of a leader have a disproportionate influence on the path an institution charts than institutional, environmental, and systemic constraints.? For example, in a democratic polity, lack of mandate is cited as a reason not to do the right thing.? In closer examinations, most leaders fritter away their mandate by dragging their feet before it is too late, and those who are determined will realize goals even if they do not have numbers.
An Important attribute for a leader to have is the ability to change. A quote attributed to Einstein says measure of intelligence is the ability to change.? In many cases, ego comes in the way of acknowledging that things that worked once are no longer working. At other times, it is sheer inability to change.
Another important attribute is seeking inputs from experts as well as a cross-section of the organization where high performers are spread without blindly accepting it. ??In India, the Varna System provided the balance, where one section excelled in knowledge, another in bravery, third in trade, and fourth in skills, with a degree of co-dependence.? Thus, more successful empires were those where a King had an exceptional adviser or a great general, and other sections excelled in their part. This is even when a King is supposed to be learned and good at multiple disciplines. Nowadays many a leader acts as a know-all.
34. Separations, Trauma, and Grief
Then there are separations, where a person loses his job, position, or responsibility. It may also be a case of losing a personal relationship. The separations typically happen all of a sudden and invariably cause grief. Here individuals go through the same cycle of grief irrespective of their nature during normal times. The cycle of grief goes through the same stages for all namely Denial, Rage-Protest, Sadness-Pining, Fear-Terror-Panic, Rationalization, Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Rebonding. ?? It is important to recognize this more as a Jati phenomenon and not Vyakti. However, how people respond and cope may be different. Awareness of this hopefully can help people cope better but more often than not people get blind-sided and remain so for long periods.
It is also important to support others going through these intense emotions. However, to quote Alexander Solzhenitsyn “A man who is warm cannot understand the pain of a man who is cold”. ?The discussion on these topics is particularly moving here [6].
Separations are generally accompanied by inordinate resistance and are generally best avoided unless they are well-deliberated. In either case, they need to be handled delicately.
35. Introducing Change
Generally, any change needs to be socialized and then only introduced in an institution. Certain changes however need to be introduced quickly. One popular example discussed while explaining Newton's Laws is about pulling table cloth and examining what happens to tableware (items such as plates on the table). If the tablecloth is pulled slowly the tableware will fall down causing disruption. However, if the tablecloth is moved quickly and with confidence, the tableware remains unaffected. Doing that, however, requires skill. Unfortunately, many leaders introduce changes slowly face this disruption, and then put off the change.
36. Expertise vs. Domain Knowledge
?Should a leader be an expert?. At times it may be useful and at other times it may be counterproductive if a leader is an expert. He may impose his opinion and get blind-sighted by his own assessment. What is required however for a leader is to have good domain knowledge. A person leading a Fin-Tech organization should know the Financial domain intimately. He should be able to get into the nitty-gritty as well as have a high-level view and think systemically. ?Thus domain knowledge is a lot more important for a leader than expertise. Both seem to be the same, but they are not. One is about breadth and the other is about depth, even though In the final analysis they coalesce.
For expertise, talent, training, and practice are enablers, and flair for perfection is the driver. For domain knowledge, cognitive abilities are enablers and hunger for knowledge and zeal to contribute are drivers.
37. Compromise vs. Accommodation
Any decision-making cannot be a unidimensional exercise. There are always knock-on effects of a decision, some positive and some negative, at times hugely. At the same time, core principles and values should be adhered to. In such a case what should a leader do? A simple yet useful ability is to distinguish between compromise and accommodation. While compromise should be avoided, accommodation may be acceptable.? These distinctions are subtle but very much discernible, for an experienced leader
38. Revolution before Reform
?Even though knowledge is power, people seldom do the right thing unless there are extenuating circumstances that compel them to do. They do not follow a regimen which is good for them, let alone doing things which are good for others and the institution at large. Thus there is always inertia with individuals, leaders and institutions. ?Hence how will reform happen? ?It seldom happens on its own. Most of the time reform happens only after revolution or an institutional reset, some sudden change which makes reform lot more palatable in comparison. There are several instances where reform has succeeded revolution making the association rather inevitable.
39. Interference vs. Intervention
Generally the ideal way to run an institution is to select talented people and give them freedom to do their jobs in manners they find the best. ?They probably are the best judge. ?Some have their own unique way to achieve the goals. Hence interference in the way people go about doing their jobs is best avoided. However, certain interventions are essential for superior results. These may be intervening mechanisms to facilitate and at times mandate collaboration. The interventions may also ensure frequent reporting in a standardized manner so that there is a single version of truth that is reconciled at the institutional level. ?Then there are interventions to set standards, monitor processes in motion, and ensure outcomes do happen in line with intent and people in an institution do realize potential. The interventions can be at the workgroup level, department level, process level, or institutional level. ?The fewer the interventions better it is. Thus the interventions have to be well-deliberated and discontinued as soon as they lose their rationale or are found to be ineffective in practice. Thus after time, a good intervention becomes an integral part of the operational process, seamlessly taking place.
40. Selecting People and Resetting Expectations
There is a lot of conventional wisdom about selecting people. Some say hire for attitude and then train for aptitude. Some say talent and traits are important. Others look at qualifications and pedigree. Many institutions hire people similar to what they have and then wonder why nothing changes. Some institutions worry about talented people leaving in quick time. ?In practice, in the hiring cycle, some institutions assess technical capabilities first and then the HR round tends to be a formality. In cultures like Japanese, a lot of focus is on a person’s work ethic and commitment. ?These things are not cast in stone. We can say there are two broad approaches.
What matters however are the Competencies, Behaviours, and Moorings of people. Here competency is much more than skill, involving innate talent and mind-sets. Thus, when you look at driving, the competency required to drive a sports car, ambulance, passenger bus, or truck on long-distance journeys is very different, even when they are about superior driving skills. Hence it is important to assess an individual’s competencies as well as the competencies of the team as a whole and identify gaps and opportunities.
Next, comes behaviours. An institution itself has a behavior that is common to all. Then there are behaviours exhibited by those who are new and those who are old in the institution.? To an observer, some just fritter away time. Some keep themselves busy doing routine things. Some leaders get caught in an activity trap, taking a lot more people along. Some are very proactive. Some rise in crisis. Some teams respond to challenges. ?Thus, just setting goals and establishing an incentive/penalty mechanism will not do. Only understanding behaviors can give an idea of what can we expect. Many retain their streak for excellence without getting influenced by the environment, most however blend and decay.
Behaviours are an important consideration when it comes to promotions as well. In many cases long term employee wonder why a newbie gets promoted. What they fail to realize is that the new employee demonstrated certain behaviours that failed to imbibe even after years of service. Ultimately it is behaviors that make and break individuals as well as institutions, the ugliest manifestations surface during circumstances that are not routine.
The third, important factor is moorings. Each individual will find his/her moorings in an institution. This will majorly determine what will they do. Some attach themselves to a group of people. Some like certain activities and keep away from others. Some like to connect and converse. Some like to think and deliberate. Some like financial matters and bookkeeping. Some have a flair for operations and get preoccupied with it. Some are externally focused and find their moorings on the edge rather than within. Among academics, some find their moorings in research. Some in practice. ?Some in teaching and student engagement and so on.? Understanding the moorings at individual and collective levels is key. A ?prudent leader should reset his expectations after such an analysis.
41. Rule-based vs. Value based
It is natural for any institution to have a set of rules. Some basic rules may be working hours and ensuring presence during working hours, and any absence is with due permission. ?This is good on its own. But, with this rule, the values we are trying to inculcate in employees is punctuality, integrity and reliability. Hence, we should go beyond rules and strive to move to a value-based system. This means hiring the right kind of people who can be trusted and creating an environment of mutual trust. To some degree what is expected may not happen but what is inspected only may happen, which again brings rules back into focus. But the problem with rules is that once rules are there, they tend to be gamed. Once a rule gets gamed, it will call more rules or caveats taking the institution on a slippery slope. Hence overdoing rules should be resisted and restraint should be practiced when rules are broken here and there. Another way to look at is exceptional performers are generally rule-breakers. This holds even in disciplined institutions such as the Military. Many battles were won when men in the front disobeyed instructions to hold back or did that supreme sacrifice by keeping standard operating procedures at bay. ?Hence excessive reliance on rules robs an institution of flexibility and winnability.
When rules are set by regulators or the Government, it is not uncommon to see institutions themselves gaming the rules, thus seldom occupying higher moral ground.
42. Action Orientation
Some institutions are focused on outcomes and they go all out for outcomes at times violating ethics. Some, in particular public and possibly large private/corporate institutions, have to go by process and doing any other way they get into trouble. Thus, they may get caught in the web of their processes. Ultimately, what matters is the action taken by a leader or person facing a situation or a person having some power. ?Good institutions generally empower their employees and managers to act as per the core values of the institution. Going beyond this, the decision on what action is to be taken is not an unalloyed or casually derived decision. Many leaders are influenced by what a particular action has bearing on their reputation and the impression it creates. Some act rashly when they are surprised and find themselves out of the loop. Many would like to give the impression that they are intelligent, smart, bold, generous, etc. They may patronize and intervene when not required. Thus, all kinds of extraneous considerations come into play when action gets taken that muddles the waters with consequences resulting in loss of goodwill and leading to the moral compass going astray. ?Thus, it is extremely important to focus on ethical and righteous action that is just and appropriate for a given situation. Also sustained action doing one’s duty very well when nobody is watching is very important. Such employees are genuine about satisfying citizens and customers and doing justice to their roles or simply doing their Dharma.
Many good actions are not taken lest they become precedents. Hard actions are taken just so that they become deterrents. Even when the present changes, the long shadow of the past can deny the right perspective. People get caught in a cycle of action and reaction where old patterns repeat leading to self-fulfilling prophecies.
Fast success builds ego. Slow success builds character. A good measure of success is the distance one traverses towards a goal than the goal itself. When success is probabilistic and opportunistic, one may have to go round in circles, till success is encountered.
43. Backbiting and hearsay
It is rather natural that people come to a leader with negative accounts of others at times even when it does not affect them directly.? Leaders must discourage such behaviour while being open to constructive feedback and genuine concerns. ?In such cases, it is better to get all the concerned parties in the same room and thrash things out. What is worse, some leaders may solicit negative feedback about some individuals, about whom they already feel negatively, feeding their confirmation bias. A leader should be mindful that what is reported to him may not be true, in its entirety. At best, it is what someone perceived or saw with their filters. If it is about what happened in a meeting, it is better to insist that purported discussions are in minutes and shared with all and concurrence is got on what transpired. Only after that, a view can be formed. At the end of the day, the culture of the institution is its most important asset. A culture where people are not afraid to say the right thing and do the right thing is vital for enduring success.?
It is also rather certain that anybody who says things behind someone's back to a leader would do the same thing to the leader. That does not mean one should cut of all feedback channels. It is only that one has to be very circumspect.
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