Interviews - Shucking a lot of oysters to find the pearl?

It was my first start up experience, The fifth person to join. I was working for this company called NetQuest (Now called Aditi) founded by an ex Micro-softie.. Being part of Senior leadership, I was coached by him extensively that we needed to hire for potential and not for skills. We had an elaborate interview process and at any round in the process, if somebody objects, the  person is dropped. No exceptions ! Also, we had a list of the Microsoft questions (for example Why are manholes round ?) to identify the folks with "Out of the box" thinking. My mentor, instilled into me this approach deeply so that it became my default interview process. This helped me immensely  in my career as my success is mainly based on finding the right folks to work for me !

Read on to see how this simple technique can help you find and built sustainable productive teams....

Hire Employees for their potential and consultants for their skills !

Slow and steady does win the race in business afterall !

When I heard the story of the The Tortoise and the Hare for the first time, I was filled with questions. Why did the hare stop to take rest? Tortoise are so slow that even if the Hare slept for hours, it still could not win the race etc. All very logical questions and concerns in my kids mind. My father used to have a tough time trying to explain the concepts and convince my "scientific" mind to see the message behind the story and understand what it truly means.

Growing up and struggling to survive in the business world, I always felt that the hares won all the time. The person who can talk smoother, Dress better and network quicker won. The only thing I could do was to work twice as hard to make up for the lack of proficiencies in these departments ! Wallowing in self pity, I was slow to notice that folks who went up too quickly sometime crashed and burned even more quickly. There seems to be some natural force which balanced the inequality. Not all the time I admit (I have seen too many people in leadership roles with absolutely no skills) but enough to make me believe. Also, I noticed that some of the so called "hares" where really smart tortoise who were slow and steady - But too quick by my standards !! It was my short sighted views that labelled them as flighty hares !!

Super Nanny Tips for Managing your team

One of the shows I watch on TV is the Super Nanny and I cannot compliment it enough for the information and tips the shows provides. More importantly, it is a two in one – Tips for managing your children which can also be applied to managing your team – After all to maximize your team productivity and to minimize the Tylenol you take for your headaches, treating your team like you children does make logical sense !

So let us examine some of the key concepts of the show and see how it applies to your team

Lamplight vs. Spotlight - Can Introverts survive in this business enviornment?

 Coming from an Indian culture, my natural Introvert instincts have been further hardened by the culture which expects kids to be seen and not heard. Growing up, the hierarchy of business food chain was reinforced - summarized as Your Superior is always right ! For the last 15 or so years in the US I have been struggling with the society's deference to the Extroverts - Leadership was decided based on the person's "Charisma" and who cares if the content of what he says sucks as long as he is able to say it in style and sound intelligent. I used to spend sleepless nights blaming everybody for the lack of recognition of the value I deliver. To this day I struggle with this facet of life, even though I sort of accepted this fact of life and moved on. So this book Quiet - The power of Introverts in a world that can's stop talking" by Susan Cain  caught my I eye and I had to read it ! 

Kitchen Nightmare- Cooking Show or Management Lessons ?

People either hate him or love. Even though I am not a cooking fan myself, I watch all of Gordon Ramsey's shows to learn from his management styles. I can see your eyes roll. But walk with me a little longer. 

Take the Kitchen Nightmare show. In this show, Gordon helps restaurants in a very bad financial state to get a chance to become successful. He tackles food, budget, cost and even family issues to provide the owners a chance to succeed.

The show typically begins with Gordon meeting the family members, then tasting the food. He makes recommendations for change (Including fixing inter personal issues) and then mentors them as they successfully transform the restaurant. Most people call it monotonous and highly exaggerated. But, the shows has a policy of going back after a year or so to see what happened to these restaurants and there are successes and failures shown. 

For me the fascination has been his process and how it applies to our professional lives and projects.  So here is my view of the process

Get the Context (Get the Background)
One of the first thing Gordon does is to get a context for the problem. He does this by visiting the neighborhood to check other restaurants or by having chats with the key stakeholders to get their perspectives 
 

When we go to do similar project reviews, we have meetings with key stakeholders and try to get an understanding of the context before we try to fix the problems with the project

Taste the food (Check the Deliverable)

Next Gordon orders from the menu and samples the food being served in the restaurant to see if there are any problems. If there are any problems, the feedback is direct and not sugar coated. It is very harsh and get the cooks and owners really riled up.

When we do project reviews, we review all the deliverable created to date and make sure we provide detailed feedback on our findings. There is a need to  create a real baseline of understanding before we can fix any problems

Observe the functioning (Monitor the team)

Once the feedback is given, Gordon then watches the operation of the restaurant for one meal services. This way he can see first hand where the problem lies and allows him to confirm the feedback he received from the stakeholders. 

We watch the team go about its activities to observe how they interact with each other and the stakeholders. This gives us a first hand look at the actual problems with the project

Prepare the Owners (Motivate the team)

Most of the time, the Owners are living in a distorted view of reality - They blame everybody except themselves for the problem. Gordon does a thorough job of demolishing the owner's ego and get them to face reality. He fixes any other personnel or staff issues so that they are ready to receive feedback and be ready to change. Otherwise it is water off a Duck's back !

When we do project reviews, we really work on the people involved to make sure we understand their motivation and be able to fix any issues (Fire people if needed) so that the project has a chance to succeed. Without getting the team ready mentally for a change, any recommendations we make is just a waste of time!

Ring in the changes (Execute our Recommendations)

Gordon then rolls out the changes he wants. New menus. New Decor. New processes. Everything which will help them run a smooth restaurant

Once the team is mentally prepared, we walk them through changes in templates, process as well as organization. Making sure the team has a reasonable chance of succeeding

Mentor the team (Support Roll Out)

Gordon then watches and supports as the restaurant goes about trying out the new changes. The success of this try out and the positive feedback from the customers reinforces their minds and give the restaurant a chance to succeed 

We spent some time helping the team execute on our recommendation. Answering questions. Supporting the team and making sure they are ready to internalize the recommendations 

Closing (Exit)

Gordon, at the end of the successful services, get the team together to summarize and celebrate their success. With some last minute motivation and confirmations, Gordon moves on to his next project

We conduct an Exit session, where the team is able to feel the change and celebrate their success. Reenforcing their positive behaviors, we also provide them with key instructions on other tuneups they may want to pursue.

What do you think now? Don you think it is a Cooking related show or a management class? Do send me your thoughts !

 

Raghavan (Raj) Rajendran

The power of teaching people to think better

One of my favorite quotes is "Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, Feed Him For a Lifetime". David Rock, in this excellent book "Quiet Leadership" takes these concepts to the next level and explains the reason for its effectiveness in a scientific and credible manner. He convinces the readers on the effectiveness of the idea and then provides a framework for executing this in our professional lives. This is a must read for all those who want to become more effective leaders and managers

 

Some of the key concepts he introduces are:

1. It is difficult to "unlearn" old habits. It is much easier to teach people new habits which overrides the old ones
2. People learn new habits better when they learn it themselves 
3. Once people have new tools and know how to use them, they can teach themselves new effective habits 
4. The tool of a better thought process is the ultimate tool since it can be used across all aspects of their life to become better and effective

In my first start up, my mentor taught me the concepts of "fire in the belly" - have the passion for what you are doing-  as well as "Set the bar high" - stretch goals make for better personal satisfaction/motivation.  So the thoughts presented in this book resonated well with me and reinforced the approach I have been adopting to mentor my team mates.

Read this book and let me know if you agree or disagree with the concepts...

Click here to go to the Author David Rock's personal blog. If you need to visit the official web site of the book, Click here

Raghavan (Raj) Rajendran