Even the Office Boy has talent

Quite often during my meetings and discussion with Entrepreneurs, I am often a witness to effusive praise for the "Office boy" in the Company(not all but a few remarkable individuals), the entrepreneur will take immense pride and credit in highlighting how he has grown and from where to where he has progressed. Nested with this comment is a statement that-"look our organization gives opportunities and career growth to the lowest staff and make them great employees.."

For quite some time I couldn't understand why entrepreneurs were making such a great deal about an “Office Boy”..After all he is an office boy meant to do the mundane work until I myself went through the experience of truly understanding the power of this resource.

In quite a few entrepreneurial companies some of these individuals are extremely "Powerful" or wield greater influence on the owner and this too was one thing, I could not understand  the reasons . In quite a few companies that I worked before founding Bluesky, the owner seemed to give more importance to the office boy than even some qualified executives. Of course this has abated in the recent past but the moot point is what makes the office boy so powerful….

On deeper reflection and only after I experienced an exceptional office boy in my own company that I actually realized, there was some merit in this acclaim. I tried to reflect and distill out what makes them get the timeshare and confidence of the owner which most other respected and distinguished executives seldom get…

While this is not to generalize all office boys, I observe that some have intense ambitions and a determined desire to grow. What powers these individuals especially where everyone looks down on them and most of them generally are devoid on any qualifications/degrees. But despite this many owners see something that other cannot, most owners are willing to fund their education, provide them a better life and even decide their increments before others in the company. Is it sheer philanthropy and compassion or something beyond...

On closer examination, I firmly believe its beyond just well intended thinking. To understand what makes owners go beyond, lies in the fact that this section of people are extremely simple(less of theories, jargons and more execution oriented), stable, loyal and street smart.

The special office boy, (the one who shows ambition and eagerness) I am talking of is extremely resourceful and highly dependable; he knows how to get his work done. One element of his success could probably be that he has been brought up by "Not depending on Google for any help" (even though many of them have smart phones). He is crafted with a mentality that I can’t sink any further from where I am and the only way forward is upwards. Hence the special office boy can have ambitions and dreams and has no social pressures and fears of failure. He derives his appreciation out of loyalty. He does not need to be bothered of peer pressure and most importantly he is not in the dog race but is extremely passionate. He is trying to give definition to his career unlike most of us professionals who feel that we have already got defined on post graduating from our colleges and now are compelled to be ahead in the race and have social peer groups that decide our trajectory.

BTW, any new employee that truly wants to be successful  must actually befriend the office boy. You win his confidence and you will quickly succeed.They are like moving archives that will tell you everything that happened in the past and that is why owners also like the special office Boy. He is the ears and eyes of the owner!!

Remember most traditional owners know everything that happens in the company and its because of this live Information system that makes it happen. Its natural that the owner will take special care and provide special support to the special office boy-sponsoring for higher studies, higher responsibilities, loans, family privileges etc

 If only professionals could borrow some attributes from the office boy which include flexibility, simplicity, resourcefulness, perseverance, passion and street smartness of the Office Boy.

In fact look around in most companies and you will see the office boy reaching greater heights in the structure and I must also state that grooming an office boy for greater heights is not such a bad idea after all. But the strange part is that the HR does not create any career plans for the "Potentially Powerful Office Boy"....

Employee Succession, Continuity and SOP's

Most SMB's have limited elbow room to ensure that more than one person handles any task/job at a time. The limitation is more to do with constraint on resources and budgetary limitations. Succession Planning for such SMB's is not at all a priority or rather should I say cannot be a priority because of the restrictive cost involved with such exercises ..

However in the same breath every entrepreneur knows the risks he/she carries with such individuals but prefers to procrastinate such thoughts let alone acting on it. Hence if in case the person leaves or merely proceeds on long leave the entire system comes to a grinding halt. The vulnerabilities are more pronounced in functions like Sales, Operations and sometimes in Finance and Accounts. More often than not such responsibilities are filled in by the CEO himself.

The biggest drama that unfolds is when such employees decide to tender their resignation! Much of my experience tells me that such resignations are more an act to seek attention; I have known many cases where the individual has tendered his resignation and taken it back at least 3-4 times like a customary ritual.
Frankly the bigger excitement is when the owner/entrepreneur comes forward with all the freebies and bonanza offers including immediate promotions, increments, car, bonuses and what not. Such negotiations generally prolong throughout the entire notice period and are also a mix of emotional exchanges between the two parties.

And of course all of this is in hush hush where the concerned employee is strictly told not to tell anyone....This indeed is the best kept secret with everyone knowing about the deal except the owner who feels no one is aware??
But internally the entrepreneur is literally seething with anger and tries to take such steps that ensure, the gun is not kept on his temple once again.

Invariably such employees are also quite smart to ensure that they are always reluctant to share the privileged skills and knowledge they possess with any other individual so as to create indispensability. The situation gets exacerbated if the Company has not defined robust processes and SOP's which mandates the transfer of knowledge. In fact you would be surprised to know that in most companies which intend to document internal processes, the respective executives who are supposed to prepare them are extremely reluctant to document them-Most common excuse is-shortage of time!!

Most entrepreneurs are aware of these intense dependencies and vulnerabilities but generally avoid acting on it-remember the famous adage if it ain't broken why fix it. In the process the Company creates prima donna's and power centers which often becomes dysfunctional in the long term and the bigger damage is done when new skilled professionals are inducted. The old hands become obstacles to the new professionals and ensure that they do not settle.

If Companies cannot afford Succession given their size, they definitely can adopt Employee Continuity which is similar to business continuity. It's the next best person that can take over if a person leaves.

The first step for companies who recognize this as a problem is to de-risk such vulnerabilities by undertaking the task of identifying Key & Critical resources in the company. Bluesky has a validated model that it adopts for its portfolio clients. Note that criticality can exist at any level within the company and has little to do with hierarchy and position. The next step is to mitigate the risk by identifying whether we have some one internally within the organization that can take over (Either vertically within the structure or at a peer level). You can categorize them as Red Amber and Green depending on their readiness. In some cases the mapping may also be done externally so that if the incumbent leaves, the options in the external market are well researched and available.

Incentivizing people for cross skilling is also another method to de-risk and the most effective method is to digitize that not only standardizes the work flow but also ensures consistency. As the company progresses it must make an audit at regular intervals on such criticalities and the intensity of impact in case of attrition. Hiring back ups and second/third level is another priority thrust that must be examined. To sum it up talent and vulnerability exercises must be undertaken as a conscious exercise with the HR function and create mitigating plans to derisk and future proof the company.

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