The Upma In Your Team

If you are a South Indian, you will understand what the label ‘Upma’ means.

If you are a fan of cookery shows, you will remember it as the dish that got Chef Floyd Cardoz the $100,000/= prize in the Top Chef Masters Contest in Los Angeles.

Upma is the ignored, often maligned, necessary but boring food in most South Indian households. It was the 'go-to' when an unexpected guest landed at your home late at night in the pre-Swiggy era. It continues to be whipped up by caterers in South Indian weddings when breakfast runs out. While there are many a fancy Upma – from the Maharashtrian Poha to the modern Quinoa and Millet Upma, the boring staple is the semolina variety. It is easy to make, quick, and needs very few ingredients – lending itself to the task at hand. Upma is a favorite topic of ridicule with many a stand-up comedian. If you ask any South Indian to name his favorite breakfast dish, it is definitely not going to be Upma. It would probably be the sexier MasalaDosa or Poori Bhaji, or even exotic Waffles and Cream or Eggs Benedict.

The Upma is like that steady, plodding, handy, middle-of-the-road team member. Boring, does the job he has to do, can be depended on, predictable performance…

Just there doing his bit.

Managers ignore them. Young managers often prefer to have a team that doesn’t include such members – imagine a team that only has superstars – a home where the breakfast menu is always exciting, never ever including the Upma. Feels like a dream team.

Imagine. The effort that goes into an Upma vs the Dosa. The cost. The health impact of Upma vs the rich Dosa and poori.

Imagine. Managing a team that only has highly ambitious star performers. The effort you need to put in. Today, you can ignore the Upma, they will plod along.

Usha, are you suggesting that ‘high-performance teams’ are bad? Are you advocating that we embrace mediocrity?

Nope. I am asking you to notice and nurture the middle-of-the-road team members. Like Chef Cardoz turned the Upma into a winner, like my home where the Upma is also on the list of favorite breakfast dishes, you too can elevate the level of your team members, pull up the ‘median’ performance level in your team to be higher than what it is today.

If you make the effort.

Not always, not all of them. For sure, some of them, some of the time.

Pulling up the median requires working on the medium performer, not just with your Superstars. You may be surprised when an Upma turns into a Superstar. You will need to keep working to find out the tasks where they are the best people to deliver high-quality results. You need to find the right motivators so they 'want' to move up. You may have to be gentle and nurturing. Maybe patient.

The advantages are obvious. You have a team where you can spread the deliverables better, and reduce dependence on a few star performers. A team where more people feel excited and valued, want to deliver higher results. The Upma who turned into a Superstar will remember you as that manager who helped her blossom. That, I can assure you, is a great feeling, a joy that is best experienced than explained.

I want to leave you with the story of Akbar and Birbal. I know everyone talks of Birbal, of how he was Akbar’s best minister, how the rest of them were jealous and quite mediocre, etc.

Akbar was smart to keep Birbal close. But I believe Akbar missed an opportunity to create many more Birbals in his court. If he had nurtured and groomed more of them, who knows how many more would have emerged? He would have derisked himself better I suppose.

What do you think?

I write this now as I want to leave this thought with you when you engage in the annual appraisal discussion with your team. Put some thought, a little more effort, into the conversations with the middle-of-the-road employees. Find ways to pull them up, even a 5% improvement in the median performers will skew the bell beautifully to the right.

PS: I made Upma this morning, that is what triggered this post! So adding a photo of my Upma too (mine is always a jazzed-up version!)

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