Management 2.0 has arrived.

I went through one interesting blog posted in Wall Street Journal - http://blogs.wsj.com/management/2009/03/24/the-facebook-generation-vs-the-fortune-500/. 

The blog deals on how the facebook generation will determine the new age Management practices. It also illustrates why the management processes that are being followed right now in Fortune 500 will be outdated and be ineffective against the next set of Gen, who are born in this digital age, where Internet is no more "Its out there" thing, but "Its in" thing. People would start breathing in the Internet.Believe me, its not just in US, but in metropolitan cities in India, having a facebook or Orkut profile determines your identity.  We are getting increasingly connected across the globe and a revolution is just waiting to happen.

With the 2.0 revolutions sweeping through the technology, can we assume that it wont make any difference to the Management Processes? Definitely yes, and I could notice that it has started making difference. With some of the experience which I have gathered while working as a leader in my current position and looking at them with the new perspective gathered after reading the above WSJ blog, I realize that Management 2.0 has already arrived.

# Give importance to contribution than credentials. 

If you look in sites like youtube.com, you always look at the video (contribution). The contributer gets rating based on the video that has been uploaded and not his profile.

Similarly, associates who contribute more to the team or to the organization will be given higher importance. Contributions of associates is being higher preference and the position in corporate ladder and/or experience level is losing its significance. 

# Leaders are here to Serve. 

If you are the boss, it doesnt necessarily mean that you will be there to command. The new generation will not obey you, unless you prove yourself as more competent and willing to help for any issues. Transparency is what people have started looking out for.

This again draws similarity to what happens in Web2.0 community based development. Sun Microsystems have been able to lead Java Development, purely because they prove their mettle with newer code and quicker bug fixes. The day Sun fails to maintain this, it will lose its lead on Java.

# Joy of Accompalishment overcomes Money Factor (in most of the times)

The completion of a difficult task or project gives away a joy which can be overwhelming. People can give a lot of energy for such activities. This is necessary to tap into the raw energy of the younger brigade, which doesnt know where to flow. The thought of a contribution gives a direction to this energy resulting in higher productivity for the organization. As long as people think their work is important, they will be driven towards the goal. 

The same is exemplified with the growth of Linux (OS) and Wikipedia. Do you think both these would have happened if people are driven only with the money prospect? 

# Power comes from Sharing and not hoarding

The new generation always respects people who share their knowledge. That is the only reason as to why they would stick around with you.  To hold on to your position, it is imperative to exude and charm others with your knowledge and skills and that too quickly before some one else does. Knowledge is no one's property anymore. If you know something, or if you have an idea, share it fast. You may never know when some one else may share and get away with its credit.

# Create Internal forums for Idea Generation & Execution

Organizations feel the need for ideas coming from the associates for getting a fresh insight into their current business or for looking out for new areas which have been left unexplored. People come up with their ideas and bring to a common forum for discussion where it is further enhanced and moulded into a possibly good business plan. This also results in involvement of lower end associates into management decisions that are made at higher level resulting in total change of the organizational fabric.

Now do you see where are we heading to ? The businesses are adapting themselves to radical new ideas and building themselves to stay fit in the new era of competition and talent retention. They are adapting to the Management 2.0 principles. 

Interestingly, this is a common philosophy which is shaping up both the ends of the spectrum - Technology and Management and trying to bring them on the same wavelength. As we move ahead for Web 3.0, will we see another Management 3.0 ? Wait and watch.

Knowledge Management @ TCS Chennai

In June '07, I took up an interesting role in my organization. The role was "Knowledge Officer" for a large account. The best part of this role would be that I would be reporting directly to the highest official in the account. I thought this as an excellent proposition to showcase my skills and abilities to the top management of the account.

It was purely accidental. I was simply talking to one of my friend, while his PL who was the KO then, was telling us that he is leaving the role as he was going for an onshore assignment. I asked him if I could take it up. He agreed and after approvals he went ahead and I was into the role.

I got a chance to meet the big boss, who praised the ex-KO and told me that he expected more from me...I was scared, because I didnt knew what the other guy had done.. then the boss gave me some instructions and told that he would spare some 1/2 hr per week for 2-3 weeks and then I would be on my own.

As a first activity, I was asked to prepare myself a team for managing the Knowledge Management activity. The account was already reaching 1000 associates in Chennai itself, so managing such a big crowd was a herculean activity. So a strategy was formulated:

1. Using the existing hierarchy of PM/PMO and get 2-3 volunteers from each PMO domain.
2. These volunteers would in turn help the relationship in the knowledge management activity.
3. Identifying these volunteers.

The third part was most difficult. I needed the guys who are most motivated and would have some time to spare for these activities. As i asked the PM/PMO's to nominate the volunteers, I was also spending some time talking with people who can work for this activity with a passion.

Finally a big team of 12 was formed. Though this number was less, but something was worth to begin with. The team was there, but the spark wasnt.. I needed a lighter to trigger this spark.

I called up some top Knowledge Management guys here in Chennai and asked for some advice. However, that also turned out to be a bit disappointing..

The point was some thing new and interesting was required to be done. If this is not done, I will not be able to ignite the spark. I got few handful of guys whom I could trust ( sometimes personal relationship building helps).. and organized an Idea collection drive.. Though that had failed, but some mark was done, and people realized the seriousness of the business here...

Then started a series of steps to ignite the passion in people. It included:

1. Mass level recognition of people who have contributed to KM - which included distribution of cash and putting up posters across the organization carrying info abt their recognitions.

2. Another series of sessions to talk about importance of Knowledge Management in a organization and as to why should people contribute to it.

The key idea was to bring in your knowledge at center level and get recognized.. This idea clicked and I could see a spurge of activities. What I wanted I got - I could see that spark in almost every one in the KM team.. When everybdy started participating in it actively, the results were imminent. We have a deployment index for KM and when this was calculated, the account scored "Second" in entire TCS. This was a tremendous improvement, as the account never figured in the top accounts for KM ever.

Then started a series of appreciation mails, triggerred by account head in chennai. Though I was happy that something is really rocking now, I wanted to send down this as a mail to the team. Afterall it was the team which was doing the job right ? So how better would it be, if a personal mail from the account head goes to each & every one of the KM team. That I thought was the best that they could get.. and believe me, that was.. because it rarely happens that the account head would send down a personal mail and not cascading it. Everybody was happy because it was directly impacting their appraisal in a positive way.

In a whole it was a wonderful experience. The key lessons learnt:

1. Any team has four types of members:
a. People with Potential and passion.
b. People with not much potential but with tremendous passion.
c. People with potential but not with a passion.
d. People with no potential and no passion.

Identify these people when you are starting a team. Strategies for the different types should be different. Utilize the first two kinds of people to drive passion into the rest of the kinds.

2. Talk and spend some good time with the team members. The best way to get the best out of them is to know them personally.

3. Protocol should be maintained and this expectation should be made very clear. Typically it should be done through body language and not by being verbose about it.

4. Recognition plays a key factor in team building and motivation. Sometimes making a hype of things helps, but should be done in a controlled way. It can also backfire, so prudence should be exercised.

5. You cannot have a team which will not have the fourth kind - People with no potential and no passion. This helps in creating hierarchy and people understand their role better. So dont try to eliminate them but use them in a way to bolster the ego factor of the other kinds, so that they keep on performing good.

This may not be the best formulae to build a team but can serve as a beginner's reference.

My First Innings in Management

My First innings in Management begin with my short (four month) stint at Reliance Infocomm (now Reliance Communication). Though I am still dont understand why they selected ME for a managerial role that too in Corporate Wireless Group, which was headed by Reliance Infocomm Delhi CEO himself..

I was asked to work for providing technical help and co-ordinating for key projects for Reliance. Though the technical part was limited, my major work was for co-ordinating for conversion of PNB ATM links from VSAT to CDMA. It took me time to sit down and understand the process at first.. Bcoz, May be I was not too keen on this job, as I was dreaming of a tech job rather, but I guess Destiny plays its own games..

My work involved speaking with lot of people (on phone).. and regular interaction with many others. To begin with, I learnt the technical details of the conversion project and other business related issues that I should be ready to confront with. Made a proper note of all the things which is key to my job. As I got along in the job, I realized a major issue of remembering the names of the people whom I speak to. I was talking to almost 40-50 people on a daily basis, who were totally new to me..So I decided to use an excel sheet, containing the names and numbers of those people along with their roles and responsibilities.

So during phone when they talk, I would ask them their names, and quickly use an excel sheet to find about this person and talk accordingly. However, direct interaction was really tough..because you may never know.. how senior the other person is !!

It took me pretty long (about 2 months) to get the names and roles of those people right.. May be I was beginning to believe.. dunno know.. Not just by knowing their names, I developed some cool personal contacts with many of them as well.. & that I leveraged it well for Reliance as well..

As per the original process (which my boss followed), we needed to contact the local branch manager corresponding to the ATM site. However, this process was cumbersome, as they were reluctant to give their mobile numbers, and reaching them on landlines was a big headache. I was expected to formalize a schedule for "Installation" as per the convenience of bank managers, but I faced another big issue...

The problem was not only from the bank side (Local Branch Managers), we had issues with the Router Dept(provides personnel support for router installations), which was outsourced and worked only from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Working hours beyond this was not acceptable to them. The Bank's local branch managers often give time after 6:00, and thus many times we had to cancel the Installation.

I decided to make this whole set up more systematic. While trying to meet both the ends, I reached out to supervisors of the branch managers and found atleast person for each region - Haryana, Punjab, UP, Orissa, Bihar, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

Luckily, the Regional Managers were supportive and I was able to put in a process with detailed discussions with the Reliance's Router Department. So this is how it goes:

Monday -> I Schedule multiple Installations for next week in different locations and send to the router department for any review.

By Tuesday -> Router Department will get back with any concerns. The concerns will need to be solved by Wednesday EOD.

Thursday -> Weekly Installation details would be sent to bank by Thu morning. Any concerns, bank had to responded by Friday EOD. The mail would copy the Router Dept and the contact numbers of the key people. For any concerns after Friday, it needs to be addressed both on Phone and Mails.

If everything goes fine, in the next week, all scheduled Installations would happen, and I would happily plan for the next week based on the availability of equipments and personnel. Sometimes RF related technical issues would pop up, and I would spend some time on them..(which I loved to do most). Nonetheless, I had lots of spare time in office.. and need not talk on phone also much..! Lifezz got Chilled !

Lesson Learnt: Process can kill you or make your life heaven. It depends on how well it was developed keeping the practical realities in mind.

But there were more issues that relate to post installation. Often some technical flaw would come in the ATM sites which needed to be serviced. Again the process was the branch manager should call up Reliance Call Centers and Inform them about the ATM Site details. Reliance's Call Centers would be horrible (around 2005 atleast.. not sure how good are they now..), and you would spend lot of time to get through to a customer care agent.

Here is where we swing into action.. Me & Boss decide to twist the process a bit, and started servicing the clients without require a proper complain through Call Center. A simple mail would suffice and we would send our guys to do the work. This policy paid off after sometime, which made me realize the true importance of Customer Service for survival of Business.

After sometime, TATA Indicom made a ridiculously low tariff's for the same conversion. The tariff's suggested that they were taking in a loss during installation, but would get profitable as the revenue stream coming from each site is constant and ever-lasting. So the bank decided to stop all installations from Reliance and give it to TATA Indicom.

But such a move was not favoured by the Regional Managers who were now happy with the progress of ATM Installations from Reliance and the kind of Customer Support that Reliance gave them. I had sensed that while talking to few RM's, though I was not sure what exactly would be happening.

Within two weeks, the project was again awarded to Reliance. Got info through un-official means that TATA Indicom was unable to provide the kind of customer service that Reliance provided.

Lessons Learnt : Customer Service Matters and even if it means twisting the existing process.. because finally the business matters and not the conventional process !!

I believe the contract is still with Reliance and based on its success, they were able to acquire contract from SBI ( having one of the largest ATM networks). The work is on, and as long as they provide the Customer Service and customer oriented process, the contract will be with Reliance.

There are lot of things during my four month stint and most of which cannot be documented... But yes I cherish those moments, which changed my perception.