I am still learning

I am still learning

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I read somewhere if an operating manual for human being is to be made then how many volumes would it be. We operate without any operating manual; we just pick up some wisdom on the go and tend to use those. Like they say if one is habituated in hammer then he sees every problem as nail jutting out and hammers it down, kind of same solution for all problems.

That is too simplistic, one solution for all problems !

While growing up we watch our parents operating and from there learning starts. I have watched my mother silently helping people without expecting any return…following the principle of “Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,”( You have the right to work only but never to its fruits)..tried to emulate her principles in life but I don’t know how far I could do that.

My father would often say in Hindi “ Na bahni na bhayeeya,subse bada rupayeeya ( most important is money and not brothers and sisters)….I used this operating principle as a caution against the bad influence of money or tried to make money as secondary goal, I always believed knowledge is power.

When we were passing out from IIT, Kharagpur we were cautioned by our professor of controls Mr.Gopalratnam about our approach to job. He said,” Now you all will be looking for job and many of you will not get the job what you want. Remember it is something like you may not marry the girl you love but you got to love the girl you marry. So whatever job you get you must do your best to do that job. Best of luck.”

That little bit of gyan helped me in adapting to all kind of situations and I am sure most of you out there must be doing the same.

While allotting work to my subordinates the word of our GM Mr.R N Bhatnagar in IOC,Barauni always rings in my ear. He said ,”If you find a man not suitable for his job then it is your duty to find a job for which he is suitable.”

That was the most important advice I ever got on job. Often we blame a worker not able to carry out a given task but have we ever tried to find out his strength area. This way we have forced many people to become useless.

My very first management book which i read was The Peters Principle.The Peter Principle is based on the notion that employees will get promoted as long as they are competent, but at some point will fail to get promoted beyond a certain job because it has become too challenging for them. Employees rise to their level of incompetence and stay there. Over time, every position in the hierarchy will be filled by someone who is not competent enough to carry out his or her new duties.  . The classic example is that when an expert is promoted as overall in charge then he may fail in taking work from a team, whereas individually he was excellent in his work. This book and One Minute manger series by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson have been very useful in understanding the inter-layer of people management. I must admit I was introduced to The One Minute Management series by my colleague Jagannathan in Vizag.

The next book which influenced me most was “The seven habits of highly effective people” by Stephen Covey. This book grabs you by ball from the preface itself. I had gone to Hubara site in Oman where BHEL was carrying out a project for PDO. One of the British consultants of the customer was having some personal problem with his girlfriend back home. He started discussing that in the bar of the guest house in the oasis. He was seeking my advice, I gave him the book “7 habits…” and said, “ I think you will find answer to your problem in this book.”

Next evening he came excitedly to me with the book and said,” Mr.Roy I found the answer in the first chapter itself.”

I left the book with him and advised him after finishing the book he can handover that to my site people. After a few years Shankaranaryan one of the engineers working there informed me practically all of them have read the book. I felt satisfied and realized the far reaching power of a book.

Slowly Samaranandji started taking shape , postulation by my alter ego started coming as management principle.

Samaranandji would often say employees operate on two principles namely WIIFM and SYA.

WIIIFM; expanded as ‘What is in it for me’ ….if boss is shrewd then he will see through the game and will use proper administrative medicine to take work out of such person. Here the employee sees there is gain for him then only he acts. Sadly that is the story with most of the people because we don’t try to establish systems with date lines.

SYA; expanded a “Save your ass”…..these employees will not act. They feel if by chance they commit any mistake then they would be hauled up. So they are busy in passing on the buck.They avoid taking decision.

A good manager has to observe and classify his subordinates’ and then work out strategy to take work out of them.

Samaranandji’s most important lesson has been “Yes also suits me No also suits me.” This principle is based on magnetic lines of forces. I become iron filing and my boss or subordinate becomes magnet. If he takes the position of “Broad side on” then as iron filing I align accordingly. If he takes “End on” position then I realign myself accordingly. It simply means I am ready with multi option and will use those as per your position of “Yes” or “No”. Here i give the first choice to my counterpart who can be anyone...
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In my part i tried to capture my experience in management by writing 2 Hindi books...'Management ke saral nuskhe" and "Management ke sabak"...the title of my  English books "Take it or leave it" and "Wide Angle".....well this article is also take it or leave it type for the readers...
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