Kissa Kursi Ka…

There are some interesting correlations I have found in the performance of an individual and performance of the portfolio a person is managing. Very often irrespective of whether or not the person is capable or performing, he or she gets evaluated on the basis of portfolio they are managing. This is truer the higher you go in the organization.

 

How often do you find in times of growth as the business delivers better results, the person managing that portfolio also grows rapidly….ever heard of the phrase its important to be the right person at the “right time”…the admission of the right time is in a way admission of this phenomenon. Interestingly the job at senior levels is a lot about aggregation and administration….ofcourse its supposed to do much more as a leader in terms of long term planning etc…however crudely put many people can get away by just aggregation. In such times often portfolios might perform great due to market conditions, due to a good team, due to organization brand, and such other many factors. This is where corporate governance comes in conflict of shareholders interest….shareholders and stakeholders in any organization would most often stand by the individual and you see the correlation only strengthening. In growth markets it could create positive perceptions about an individual over a period of time….similarly in declining markets it could create negative perceptions about the individual.

 

Crude as it may sound, most of the organizations fail to differentiate between individual performance and business performance….while individual performance needs to be linked strongly to business performance it’s an interesting dichotomy where one needs to also know the art of separating them. Else individual performance will continue to be dependant upon how the portfolio they are managing; “meaning position they occupy”; is performing…it’s the position that you occupy that’s growing and in turn growing you by default.

 

I would love to see organizations where the correlation is broken without intent of delinking individual’s contribution to business performance. I would love to see individuals occupying top jobs and conversations doing rounds “he has grown on his capability…and not because he was the right person at the right time”.

 

Till such time I would say performance management is a lot of good talk and nothing else….in the end its kissa kursi ka J

 

~~Rohit~~

 

Board Room Discussions

There is something about board room conversations and top management business reviews that never stops to alarm me. By definition these are the higher amongst equals, most expensive resources of any business….set of employees who are expected to create maximum business impact. Board room meetings are supposed to be brainstorming sessions just for that very purpose. These are meetings, workshops, sessions, battle ground…call them by whatever name….where they discuss business strategies and more importantly decide future course of action.

 

I have been witness to these discussions at various corporate houses. It’s fascinating the kind of discussion and brainstorming that takes place. However that’s pretty much what they remain mostly…discussion. The simplest yardsticks of efficiency of these discussions is to check how will anything in business be different from next day as a result of these discussions and then monitor gains or losses due to that. However if nothing is changing then great discussions is all it was. Somehow everyone assumes that a strategic call has been taken. It reminds me often of the old Jaspal Bhatti jokes…”sir we had a very successful meeting…..what got decided…well we decided the next meeting date”. I so wish the amount of time that is spent in detailing logistics, meeting date, venue, lunch order etc. was spent on detailing business actions and not just leave it at discussion level.

 

Simple yardstick I recommend for any organization as a yardstick is to pen down discussions that took place during the last 7 or 8 meetings and see the state of those decisions currently. Well if your answer is less than 25%, you have been spending too much time doing facial exercise and not mental exercise.

 

Some very simple basics to remember like a check list in my view for every decision taken:

·     Who all does it impact?

·     Is there some formal/informal communication required and who will do that?

·     What does everyone involved need to do differently as a result?

·     Does any MIS or reporting need to change as a result?

·     Will any of the existing business activities get impacted and would they need any support?

 

Well it might seem unglamorous detailing compared to the glamorous strategic brainstorming…..but then I am not particularly a big fan of glamour in business for the heck of it….I guess that’s a separate discussion J

 

~~Rohit~~