How to Assimilate new talent with old-Continued

In continuation with the earlier post on why assimilation of new talent with old talent becomes seemingly difficult, let's attempt to understand this from another analogous system-Human physiology. 
Any new addition to our body develops something doctors call anti-bodies which try and fight these new foreign bodies, so whether it is a new organ or medicine the body is trained to fight it out and expunge it even though it actually may be good for the body. This is also the reason for the concept of a vaccine which makes the body immune to the main disease. You inject the person with some quantum of the disease so that the body is fit to fight the main disease.

Similarly, in organizations we often bring the Gladiators a step before their time, If the timing is wrong, high powered teams result in either getting thrown out of the system or demolish the system with the intent of creating a new. 

If one notices carefully, all new professionals generally bunch together and let me tell you with confidence whine and share their sorrow in unanimity (often at the local bar!). 

They seem themselves as one fraternity which is cursing themselves for landing in this place. They feel that they have done a favour by coming to this company vis a vis having joined an MNC or some super professional system. They are one team formed voluntarily that stands against the old(Birds of the same feather).

Hence to alleviate this problem, bring in people who are just right for that part of the growth phase. Not too high, not too low. So if you need someone to take the company from Point B to C don’t get one who has the experience to move the system from E to F. This is the vaccine we are talking of-small doses...

Another reason that these assimilation's don’t work is because of the professionals Demi-God status, the owners expectations rightfully increases and he/she feels that if I am paying them a premium they should be delivering from next week, next day, next minute. It’s like the meter of a limousine flagged down and the best part-he must know everything. The moment there is a mismatch there is dissonance and the Owner starts feeling that this is the wrong hire, I am not getting ROI. 

It’s not the wrong hire, it’s the wrong setting and management. I always encourage top management to have a change session with the system and with several Bluesky companies have adopted it in the form of Town Halls and other Training initiatives; explain to the team why are we doing this and before that what are we trying to doing, why must we do it, what happens if we don’t do it, how will they benefit….

Most owners do not feel the need to do such things thinking that why simply waste the time of these hardworking people, why create insecurity, what value addition can they make to these new people, in fact they should feel happy with these new people coming in because of the training and systems they will bring along. Of course some owners don't know where to start or fear the implications of initiating some things like this.

Another aspect owners must avoid is to make these new professionals the panacea for all problems. Since they talk the right things and have claimed to see the world and organizations, they are considered the last word on everything. They are pulled into everything and their opinion is sought on every aspect. It’s like “full vasool…”. My advise would be to have them achieve their own wins that enable them to build internal equity and credibility. With that acceptance will come easier.

The HR role to support these new professionals is very important as these individuals not only need a sponge to express their frustration but to also rationalize and arbitrate their complaints. However the HR must have that understanding and weight to pull this off. Recently one of the new inducted professionals in one of our portfolio companies made a statement that “if I continue like this, I will become like them and then no one will give me a job…”When I visit our clients 40-50% of the time goes in hearing these people out and mentoring them. Hence it’s imperative that you need a good professional system if you intend to bring top professionals.

The next thing owners must do is to have discussions with the old war horses making it clear that it is a shared responsibility to make these new professionals successful and any one working against that interest will be viewed differently. Moreover everyone stops to grow unless the company escapes the present orbit and to have a smooth escape we need these new professionals to navigate us. Make it known that they are here to stay. Those that are adamant must be made examples-devoid of emotions but with respect.

The fears of the old veterans must also be mitigated as now they realize that with these individuals coming in their importance will steadily decline. It’s an insecurity problem and human hence the HR must address these concerns too.

Communication meets, Review meets, Town halls, Skip levels, change sessions etc are all steps in the direction to reduce the chances of failure but more importantly when any new professional joins provide him with a detailed Job role and I don’t mean the “normal dhobi list-JD” but clearly articulating the decisions he can take, his powers, MIS etc and have his KPI’s clearly agreed with measuring systems.

These are some aspects which will make professionals settling in the organization easier and successful.

Assimilating and integrating new talent with the old

At the outset, let me wish you a very Happy New Year and I believe most entrepreneurs are reasonably optimistic for the new year than the one that has gone by. I do hope these expectations comes true...and if the business environment does indeed improve, it would probably once again trigger recruitment of talent, managers and leaders in many companies to support these plans.

My discussion with several entrepreneurs in the recent past revolved around one aspect; How do you blend the new talent with the old dependable war horses and most companies struggle to get this right. This is one challenge that Bluesky has heard extensively and is generally the standard kitchen order when contracted!! Handling such situations are extremely tricky, complex and if not properly supported can lead to situations that are quite irreversible..

In fact in quite a few experiences, the entire investment has gone futile pushing back the company even further behind from where it started.

For the benefit of some of our clients let me provide some understanding to these dynamics and animate the dilemmas and forces at play.

The old veterans(Ghar ki Murgi) are those individuals that have been loyal, trusted and dependable over the years and who personally have a direct connect and attachment with the entrepreneur(older gen). These are the ones who may not have the capabilities or perfection expected but have nevertheless weathered all storms to bring the company to the level where it presently stands. In fact the new talent that companies wish to hire could be afforded only because of these committed and zealous individuals that work more for the success of the owner than the company. They are in many cases like the extended family of the entrepreneurs and also treated in that manner.

The entrepreneur may often scream at these individual, admonish him, treat him roughly but would also show his/her affection by relying on his advise, views, suggestions. In fact these "holy cows" in most cases have a direct access to the owners and are rarely restricted by structures etc.

However most entrepreneurs know that these individuals do not have the potential to navigate the company to the next level. They indeed have reached a saturation or better put, hit a glass ceiling. In other words they have been the heroes of the past and possibly present but distinctly not the champions of the future(But they are never told about this). So the company rightly realizes that we need individuals and talent who have operated in the higher turf and look to hiring such professionals.

The new Gladiators who are hired are sometimes made to feel like as if they are "Demi Gods" brought to change the world. To attract these individuals, most entrepreneurs do all the gimmicks and marketing thinking that they will seek redemption and by joining will take their respective companies to a higher level. Of course compensation is the potent bait with most of them being offered remuneration that are even thrice then what the "old veterans" are getting. These gladiators are generally high profile professionals coming in from top notch companies and often MNC's.

Every entrepreneur that has gone through this phase feel excited with expressions like Mr XYZ from L&T, GE etc has joined us and so on so forth. They feel like they have the Jacks and Queens in the card deck and strong to take on the world.

Anyone would feel proud to encounter these experiences only until the fairy tale ends with the high profile gladiator putting in his resignation and the best of it is where all handing over the reigns to the "old veteran". The outcome of all this is that the investment on the gladiator has gone done the tube, the old veteran generally becomes richer because of him extracting higher compensation (leverages on the disparity in what he gets and what is paid to the Gladiator) and worst of all the old veteran has become mightier to have successfully warded off an attack on his turf....Individuals within now bow down to him more lower than earlier, fear him more than before and the entrepreneur is licking his wounds or rather more vividly wiping the egg on his face clueless on what to do next..

Sad ending in many companies trying to escape to the next level. Stay tuned for the next post to know the nuances around this...

Can employees have an expiry date in companies they serve..

When you come to think of it everything around us has an expiry date... food, medicines, assets, relationships, civilizations and for that matter even Human beings.. but do employees have an expiry date!

It has been ingrained in us that people are an appreciating asset and to think of an employee carrying an expiry date sounds like an oxymoron or crazy to even contemplate. And if you are the HR guy making such mention, its possibly the end of the road. In anyway I sometimes feel HR are more like educated and polished versions of Union leaders always coming to the CEO with an appeal for some benefit here or 5 day working or more holidays but lets not get there, we will deliberate that some other day.

In fact leave aside HR, most owners pride themselves of employees being with them through the ages and where loyalty weighs heavily for such individuals. Often such individuals in the company are protected with an emotional halo! touch me not types. From my experience and to make a generalized observation, such long serving individuals are actually a millstone round the neck of the company from a future perspective and particularly for the owner. I say owner because though the owner may usually have high regards for the contributions of such individuals he generally is aware of the limitations of these time tested war horses who unfortunately have passed their prime time. These are the individuals who have reached a glass ceiling and to put it in candid parlance-Attained their expiry date!

Most CEO's don't like to accept or acknowledge this aspect either because of ignorance or because of being in self denial and sometimes insecurity-What will happen to our Accounts if I tell Harish he has reached his expiry date!! what if he joins our competition etc etc So most owners try and reform these once upon a time accomplished individuals, counselling him, training him, shouting at him- all with the intent and wishful thought that he will achieve some escape velocity and move to the next level. The crux of the problem is that the owner expects the horse to now run like a Cheetah.... At best a horse can be trained and conditioned to become a fast horse but he can't morph into a Cheetah. Hence if you are looking for a Cheetah to man the position, companies need to realize they have an expired resource and they need to deal with it. This would benefit both the individual the Company and most importantly the new recruit.

Persisting with them and trying to make them work with newly recruited talent is the next big nightmarish experience. Potentially designed to fail...Trust me on this and take heed! I would go one step further to state that If you measure closely, the cost of these dysfunctional outcomes cannot be even imagined and some have bearing on culture which are irreversible.

The objective of this blog is to encourage your HR to do an audit of all the potential talent and those that have hit a glass ceiling. The next is to bite the bullet and move towards action in the most sensitive and articulated approach. Oh yes if you feel too hot to handle this subject there is always Bluesky:)

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.

Do share your views. Since we have created the blog there has been an overwhelming response. Your viewership is most appreciated.
If you have any challenges or topics you would like some opinion on, feel free to express.

Can employees truly become Owners!

Most CEO's I meet, have one consistent grouse-My employees don't think like owners, they don't think as if the company is their own. They are often indifferent to the outcome and most often task/activity based. Though they may be aware of the financial difficulties and the business environment they still insist on increments at the end of the year and that too anything less than 15% is reciprocated  with raised eyebrows…

Per se there' nothing wrong with entrepreneurs thinking on these lines and most entrepreneurs are tempted to think some time or the other in this direction especially when frustration from business takes the better of them(I mean us, I too am included).

Calmly we should pause and ponder on whether there is legitimacy in thinking on such lines with sustainability or are we being merely opportunistic and desperate to tide over the present economic realities. While I shall not sit in judgement on this aspect, I may have some insights to offer....

If we were to examine the definition of ownership, out of several dimensions involved in ownership one aspect is the possibility of an infinite upside and even the reality of a significant potential downside!!! I think we would all agree out here on this aspect. That’s also one of the main elements that differentiates an employee from an owner.

For an employee, rarely is there any downside in the form of penalties for things not happening right or for not achieving even the base expectation for which he /she was hired. The upside for an employee is more in the form of increments, incentives (generally limited) which in most cases is generally semi-structured in SMB's.

In quite a few traditional, family run enterprises, the incentive is extended to employees during Diwali as a Bonus. Invariably the employee is unaware of how much he will receive...and it’s given towards a mixture of loyalty, obedience, good performance etc. Rarely are there structured KRA’s against which payouts are made.

Another observation is that immaterial of the debtors situation/outstanding and cash flows, most owners pride themselves to pay on time for the past 20 years without delay. Hence immaterial of the cash position, immaterial whether the owner has to borrow to fund the payroll-employees must be paid. The best part is that there is a high possibility that the situation was created by employees in the first place for wrong billing, not completing work as per the phased development to bill, weak collections etc

So while most owners take a Raja/Praja view we still expect the employee to be owners in the format?? Incidentally this term of Raja/Praja was shared during one of my interactions with an owner….

Now while the thinking is magnanimous and not for a moment, I am advocating that it is incorrect, does it weaken the argument of employee ownership!!!. One may argue that employees must be paid on time which is not something that should be debated and indeed there may be merit! but does this not also apply to owners, should they not be paid on time????

I know of several instances when the owners draw salaries less that the top executives employed. Owners generally take their compensation last, they have no fixed remuneration and generally take drawings as and when there is a requirement or scope to draw cash.

So the moot question is can employees become true owners within the perimeter of their operations. 

The answer is "YES" but it needs to be structured and crafted within certain riders and within a culture that fosters ownership. Ownership within an enterprise at the minimum would mean making employees being accountable for the outcomes of the job they manage. As the levels increase ownership must graduate to include P&L responsibility. 

During my recent discussion with the Managing Director of one of our esteemed clients, he mentioned that he wanted his senior management to be more of owners whose compensation is aligned with the output they produce. The higher business they achieve, the higher amounts they can earn. Moreover if they can't fit into this system of thinking either they should downgrade their role or refrain from requesting for annual salary increases. Strong views and approach but this is one thing which plagues entrepreneurs immensely...Employees are always in a queue to ask for increments immaterial of the realities of the market or business. In this matter they are extremely persistent (wish the same extended to business!!)

In fact when I quizzed him further he mentioned that senior management should look at it in a way where he was providing them space, infrastructure, clients and a certain minimum guarantee on compensation but beyond that they should earn it. Wow…It’s sounding quite like a variation of a franchisee system. Interesting perspective…. and the rigors of the market are forcing all of us to align in this direction. Bluesky is working on providing him with a viable solution which we hope to leverage across the portfolio of the clients we service…

These are real issues before HR and the concept of ownership will only advance from here. Top level executives must be tied to the top line and bottom line of business and must have something to lose if they don't meet the numbers. If businesses can have penalties in the form of SLA's why not these getting appropriately passed to employees. 

Bluesky has implemented the Incentive and Penalty structure for quite a few clients with encouraging response. Of course these things will take time as it goes against conventional mindset. But the business environment globally is forcing entrepreneurs to be unconventional and instilling ownership among employees is not only unconventional but also a strategic advantage to business. 

Do share your thoughts, views, perspectives including your disagreements.

OK.... But do you know why I have to do things that I am not supposed to!-Part II

So the dialogue with Shradha continues....with a tone of irritation, I rebutted saying "look, I can't have these things fall apart just because you are not attending to them". At best in 6 months to 1 year, you may walk out of the door flashing your resignation with a one month notice(That too is hardly given nowadays)...So what do I do.. the monkey will be on my back and I will have to manage the mess"
Shradha seemed indifferent and probably didn't seem to understand why I was making a big deal.

However every entrepreneur must have encountered this situation sometime during the life cycle of their enterprise. We often put our faith in the employees and often invest both financially as well as in resources; we think employees will manage everything with full ownership, with all the passion, zeal and commitment but unfortunately this rarely happens to our expectations and invariably the ball is chucked back to us...So with the existing balls already in our hand, we also add this one. Does this situation ring a bell. May be, may not for some fortunate entrepreneurs.

Another most common observation is similar to the game of volley ball... CEO's often handle multiple roles, One of the entrepreneurs I work with calls it P2P(Peon to President). As long as the owner handles it normally nothing goes wrong after all most entrepreneurs rarely sleep..but as the enterprise grows there are specialists and employees entrusted with these roles. So like in Volleyball where the owner was manning more than 2-3 positions; Now, since he has hired a "Manager-Accounts" he leaves it to him thinking he will clear the ball.... he will pay the taxes on time, he will follow up for outstanding, he will bill accurately.... But since we are not in a perfect world invariably such seamless working does not happen and mistakes, slip ups will happen drawing the entrepreneur/owner back into these activities. Sometimes the entrepreneur also expects too much from the employee-perfection, commitment, flexibility. In fact I wonder why employees fall sick and why entrepreneurs rarely miss a day of work!!

At Bluesky we have studied that there are many reasons to why this happens, it could be competence, training, delegation of authorities and most important accountability and ownership. Ownership is one of the most misunderstood words in employees dictionary. For an employee ownership means he/she can only earn incentives but never gets penalized for the slip ups. In fact in many cases it's earning incentive to do their basic jobs?? Is that fair, if not, are we fooling ourselves to think they are truly owners.....

Stay tuned in and do share your experiences