Shock & Awe - A Tale of 2 Countries

The road not taken in HR corridors

2 days

2 of the world’s largest democracies

1 story – the story of the people who will live with the consequences

With 86% of Indian currency being in demonetised high-value notes, indisputably, demonetisation has been the most far-reaching, deep-seated currency policy overhaul India has ever seen. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the currency recall over the 50-day period ending on 30th December of this year will cost an astounding INR 1.28 lakh crore.

The move clearly has high stakes, and promises to clean up the rampant use of fake currency, bring more people into the tax fold (currently less than 1% of Indians pay tax!), reduce interest rates because of the tremendous inflow of deposits into banks (to the tune of INR 100 lakh crore, at the last count by the RBI), contribute to making the country digitally savvy – among many more things. How many of these benefits have people already started reaping? ZERO.

On the other hand, a serious cash flow crunch is the present reality for almost every average Indian. All hitherto cash transactions are running on credit and goodwill. For the first time, middle class Indians are in debt to everyone from newspaper vendors to cable operators. People are queuing up outside ATMs and banks to withdraw those precious currency notes. According to news reports, more than 55 people have lost their lives because of demonetisation – either directly or indirectly. Besides, there have been smaller inconveniences. For example, consumers in rural areas are facing difficulties more acutely because out of all bank branches in India, only 38% are in rural areas, while they house over 68% of India’s population according to census figures.I’m not going to list the many execution problems because you probably know them anyway. My question remains – how many of these issues are people facing today? ALL

YET,

Consumers across social strata are coming out emphatically in support of the move; because they believe that the move will eventually discomfort only the corrupt in the long term.

Tax payers support it because they know that those neighbours who throw their wads of cash around will now have to fall in line.

Non-tax payers support it because they see retribution. It’s payback time for their bosses who seemingly flourish in the shadow economy.

Mind you, I’m not making any judgement here. Let’s say I’m neither in support of the demonetisation move nor against it. I’m just watching from the side-lines. One thing I’ve always known is that people are quick to take offence. Indignation is our birth-right. How then has this untameable force been tamed? How did public opinion get reigned in so effectively? I attribute it to the power of purpose. Give people a reason and they will lay their life down for you – or for the purpose. Be it a government or an organisation, if you’re making a decision for the people, that will affect their lives, then you have to see things their way.

I believe the real win is not just demonetisation (whose benefits are currently informed conjecture), but the way it has played out. My lessons from the drive:

• Give every single consumer their own personal reason for supporting the move. Show me a single Indian whose needs have not been addressed by the Prime Minister and his team. The most effective strategy of the rollout has been to talk to every segment of consumer in a demographic as varied as ours.
• Lead with purpose. As a consumer, if you genuinely want to see India ding well and being a respected global power, the government tells you that this demonetisation contributes to that. If you want to see India digitally forward, make that your reason to support the drive. If you’re saving to buy a house, that becomes your purpose as interest rates promise to dip.
• Keep everyone posted. I don’t believe that anyone has been left guessing about the facts. Every move, its consequences, step-wise guideand FAQs have been widely communicated in every medium and in all indigenous languages. Whether you’re online or offline – you can’t miss a single detail.
• Know that the world wants to know. It is estimated that more than half the online social conversation about the demonetisation move is from outside India, indicating just how much of a global phenomenon this has become.

If the government can do it on such a large scale, then, implementing such a strategy within organisations and even teams should be our non-negotiable objective.

Now we move to the second part of the story. Elsewhere, people woke up to the news of the shock victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections.The nation was up in arms. Protests erupted in pockets. Feminists spoke of how the average US citizen is secretly misogynistic. Champions of racial equality were left terribly disappointed. However, in the weeks that have followed, some people have begun to say that his controversial rhetoric was more to win over the electorate and create an impact. It is now expected, and does seem increasingly like the President will take a far more measured approach in implementation and governance.

Here’s what interests me about this. 2 very different nations were shaken to the core by epic developments, with the potential of changing the lives of consumers overnight. One country reacted (largely) with unprecedented restraint and patience. The other with sporadic knee-jerk reactions, being vocal and marking the presidential outcome with protests that they knew would not change things in the short term. What is even more fascinating is that India was faced with a development that consumers had no say in, while the US voted their President in. To me, the answer is abundantly clear – the difference lay in the way in which people were engaged in the development.

The moral in this for us is that we should ignore the naysayers. If anyone has ever told you that it’s impossible to make everyone happy, ignore them. If someone has told you it has never happened before, then know that there is always a first time. Can anyone of us do it? Can we make a real and significant change with a handful of the right people I our team – MOST CERTAINLY!

Let’s use this tale of two countries to inspire our own personal tales.

*The facts, figures and estimates used in this blog have been assimilated from various reports in the media and reliable official websites. 

@KeepUpWithKaustubh

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Kaustubh Sonalkar is the most unlikely hero you’d expect to find in serious HR corridors. Disruption runs through his veins, and ideas come to him at the speed of light. Keep up with Kaustubh as he shares his thoughts through this un-blog.