Let me start by saying this – I have never been a big fan of Six Sigma all my life.  That said-I don’t hate it and I don’t love it, either.

The irony is that in my last 4 years of corporate life, there has never been a single month or a single project where I have not applied Six Sigma tools and techniques at my work. I like Six Sigma for many reasons e.g. its break-down approach, the training, the change that it brings about in a person’s life etc. There is no denying the fact that those who go through the rigorous training end up becoming experts at Statistics and other quantitative and qualitative tools. It is also a fact this extrapolated jargon has created thousands of jobs. Yet, I am not satisfied!

The only complaint that I always have about Six Sigma is that it kills creativity, spontaneity and intuition – the three things that you need to take crucial decisions which help in running a successful business. The approach of Six Sigma is a very structured approach where it breaks down the problem to different modules and tackles the individual module separately. Some might differ with me, but essentially that is what it is and in the process, the time delay in getting the right solution is so much that the purpose of the whole problem is dissolved.

In today’s competitive world, if you had minutes to try and solve the problems, how on earth can you afford to waste time to break the problem into pieces, define, measure, analyzes, improve and control ?  Yes, this will help those organizations that have large cash pool which can afford the waiting time and the combined wisdom of selective individuals who give their ways of solving it. This is not meant for businesses and individuals who rely on quick, creative and intuitive solutions

If you sit in a Six Sigma brainstorming discussion, the way the problems are resolved, might lead you to ask yourself “Is this something that I don’t know of ?” They are nothing new. They follow the simple rules of cause and affect, the various failure modes and mitigation of risks that come out of it. You don’t need Six Sigma for that. All you need is Common Sense.

Some might argue that Six Sigma is a disciplined data driven approach, where the historical data gives you indication of a future behavior. It is an approach that tells you how your performance have been over “X” period and if there are failures, it will point out at what levels and what needs to be done to mitigate that. To put it simply it is a name given to a statistic tool.

I might sound a bit negative here, but the point that I am trying to make here is that at the end of the day what matters most is how effective you have been in your decisions. Have your decisions given results? If so, great. If not, you need to take a look at your fundamentals. No amount of Six Sigma training or Management training can give you what you need.

The importance should be given to create a strong foundation to the fundamentals that build you as a leader. That is,

a) When in doubt, ask ? Ask the right questions

b) Get to the root cause of the problem and its effects

c) Weigh the options and choose the right one

d) Implement it quickly, efficiently and effectively.

If you have got all these ingredients right, it doesn’t matter what tool you use or what you name the “tool” as. All what matters is the result and that is what counts.

This might lead us to another question about “What” and “How”, though..More on that, later.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Image Credit: Central Asian

Popularity: 18%

A brisk walk into our history expounds facts whose traits are still found in our current work culture. Hitherto, we saw an era where the title “King” had all powers in a kingdom. All the people were to obey the orders of King and working people had no choice but to abide by his rules, even if they were to disagree.

Zamindar system then setup ordinary people to work for landlords. Again the people had to obey his/her orders and honor his/her title. It’s a big transformation in India from dynasties to British Rule to Corporate world. But even today some of the old traits continue to show up in today’s corporate work culture in India.

Superior-Subordinate Relationship

It’s still a norm we see in India where subordinates abide superiors. “Boss is always right” still holds good. Subordinates follow his/her decision without any objection even if they do not want to. It’s a give-in attitude most of the time. There is no right or wrong behavior here. We Indians by nature do not like to be in bad books of anyone, and we are being nurtured in the family that teaches us to respect our elders. Most of the times seniority takes precedence over talent (or merit).

Who vs. What

Superiors usually do not check what issue has been escalated to them instead look for who escalated an issue. Title, status does matter in Indian management. A subordinate challenging a superior is taken as insolence or hurting the ego of the superior instead of being open to new thoughts.

“Growth” – A Mistaken Word

This is perhaps the most widely mistaken word in work environment. Growth is calculated in terms of promotions and title but not in knowledge and experience. Every individual is worried of his/her promotion and tries to compare his/her position and title with peers they are aware of. Promotions appease job contentment. If there is no progression in one’s career, he/she is considered as non-performing individual. We need to be mindful that professionals like Doctors and Lawyers do not have promotions. But they are still highly respectable professionals in the society.

Work Takes Precedence Over Family

It’s the other way round about family here. Not that we don’t love family and don’t like to spend time, but market competition warrants individual to slog for more than normal hours. Fear of being considered as non-performer, if they are not being slogged. Also it was the expectation set by predecessors during “unemployment era” to woo the employers and that trend (and expectation) continued for years thereafter.

Never Say “No”

Saying “No” is considered as impolite behavior. Most of the times a straight no is masked (or camouflaged) with long statements that might confuse the client and make him feel we are beating around the bushes. It’s again just the cultural difference that we don’t want to be seen as impolite by not saying No.

As you can see we have acquired some of the behavioral traits from our history and some from our culture. Time would tell us if we continue to behave this way or if we would change.

Image Credit: KM Photography

Popularity: 37%

What is the world’s largest prime number? Just kidding…this isn’t an article about math!

This is about RW Emerson’s quote: “Money often costs too much”; this is about the impact of the prime-lending rate (PLR) on the common man and its far-reaching consequences on the economic future of the country. To put it simply, this “prime” number is the interest rate that the central bank would charge for a loan that it lends to say, one of the banks.

Though the prime is an index measured in basis points, it’s a metric decided upon by the powers that manage the central bank, and it is adjusted every once so often. Barring economic casualties that seem to arise often of late, there is a specific schedule to evaluating and adjusting this rate.

There are various factors that go into how this rate is determined, and how it is altered, but that’s beyond the scope of this short article. When looked at a consumer’s perspective, the prime rate determines how the banks that deal with individuals (the ICICI’s and SBI’s of the country) go about lending money.

For example, if a private bank is aggressive at handing out loans, these loans might be offered to the customer at prime rate or just above it, with a marginal profit. This is where it all gets interesting – the banks in India currently don’t seem to distinguish between the individuals’ ability to pay off the loans and their past history at doing so, when doling out loans.

Of course, there is the lien that people need to provide and records of assets owned, etc to back up claims for loans at the higher priced housing levels, like those seen in the millions of rupees range. At certain lower levels like automobile loans or consumer purchases in the lower hundreds-of-thousands, there seems to be a near free-for-all eligibility to get hands on one of these loans.

There’s a very thin line that divides the consumers’ desire to upgrade their lifestyles with borrowed money and, to put it simply, the greed to not be able to distinguish between wants and needs depending on affordability.  The US economy, beginning with the sub-prime housing crisis, and now extending to credit difficulties caused by very poor liquidity at all levels imaginable, should be an important lesson for India.

As the saying goes, it is best to learn from the mistakes of others, and not repeat it oneself. The law makers need to encourage good, responsible behavior while at the same time make it difficult for people to stretch their economic freedom to levels where they can no longer sustain it. I am sure there are conflicting opinions between achieving rapid economic growth vs. sustained growth at slightly lower levels, by controlling credit, but this balance might be important to ensure the long-term health of the economy. This is where utilizing the “power of the prime” to ensure adequate liquidity levels becomes very important.

Unlike some of the developed Western economies, India doesn’t (yet) have a centrally reported “credit score” for every individual. To establish such a system, there needs to be a central database that pretty much tracks the “credit history” of every individual. This would mean tracking all transactions wherein there is not cash or an instant money transfer (debit purchases) involved. In other words, transactions that require borrowing of money would need to be reported by all the banks that offer credit cards or loans, to the central reporting / monitoring agency. This bipartisan agency would then come up with a ’score’ for every single individual based on his / her past record with loans and promptness in paying off debt. I hope this system is included as part of the e-governance transformation the country is undergoing.

Given a transparent setup that everyone has access to, the lending institutions wouldn’t fall over one another in doling out sub-prime loans (and then have people head over heels in paying off these loans), and banks would really understand the risks behind each loan made. This results in accountability getting built into the system at all levels.

More importantly, it is never too late to reward good behavior!

Image Credit: Woodley Wonderworks

Popularity: 12%

I had a couple of very interesting conversations over the weekend.

1. A cousin of mine who works for a Global MNC in the IT space was home. After all the courtesies that were exchanged, she was speaking to me about the changing work place and how the recession has slowed down things. The conversation started when I was asking her if her firm was recruiting. She said, “No”..We are going slow and there isn’t much happening… and after a little pause, she said, do you know how arrogant the HR guys have become? My eyes popped out in near disbelief. I said, ’say that again!”, and she went “yes, the HR guys have become very arrogant these days. From running behind us and saying yes to everything we asked for, they now say, “if you don’t like it here, you may leave – and they say this for even trivial things!”

2. My brother-in-law is based in Plano, Texas. An IT Project Manager by profession, he manages a fairly large team. One of his team members came up to him asking for a 3 week leave to go home. According to their company policy, 2 weeks is the maximum that one gets if he/she had to go home, irrespective of level. The guy was looking for a deviation and was not happy when his Manager said that a policy needed to be followed. He whined, threatened to escalate and was murmuring away in the backdrop when the issue was escalated to his higher management. The senior relationship manager was apparently candid and said, if the guy can’t come back in two weeks, we don’t need him. He had large enough a bench strength to get a replacement overnight. The guy then promised to return in 10 days hearing what his higher ups had to say.

A few months ago, I could have been fast asleep and still said which way both these conversations would have potentially gone. So what’s changed? Oh well – it’s pretty much everything!!!

In the beginning of what a lot of experts predict is a 12-18 month recession, organizations are whipping up actions aimed at improving operating leverage at a pace that one can’t imagine. From projects coded with alphabets aimed at rationalizing the size of the workforce, to communicating openly that pay raises and bonuses are on hold / depleted as the case may be, to the discontinuation of quarterly incentives, to the slashing of fun budgets, it’s all happening – happening in real quick time too.

As someone who’s enjoyed the exotic spread of options available in the seven course buffet and expecting that this was a given every other day, the employee finds it hard to live with just bread and peanut butter alone.

Let’s get back to the two conversations again for a second. I think it’s unfair for some in a position of authority to exploit current market conditions. Businessmen and business logic talks about being rationale, for me, it’s always about being fair and doing the right thing. So if someone in the HR team was getting opportunistic to turn the heat on an employee, I think that’s unfair. With the kind of scale that some organizations have built in terms of size, policies and procedures lay down the rules of the road. I think they are essential and need to be respected and followed – it’s much like driving (yes, I know we never drive by the rules here in India – but let’s talk about that another day!). To get upset and whine when someone talks policy is again not done.

It is here that the much touted maturity element comes into play. The more mature folks understand that this is a passing cloud and lie low, letting this pass – the not so mature ones whine and complain – much like my cousin. (I’m not calling her immature because she said that the HR guys were arrogant!)

I hate economics but remember a couple of things from whatever I studied – Demand and supply determine worth or value or whatever you want to call it. When supply far outstrips demand, the law of diminishing return sets in (someone correct me if I am wrong! I am talking from memory that is over 11 years old).

In business, cycles exist and hence the challenge of demand and supply, the point of diminishing returns and whatever other crap that was overhead transmission from what I learnt or was supposed to will always exist. The ideal situation would be striving for right balance. A right balance will set up a level playing field. The trouble here is that this does not exist in business either. We are not in regulated economies and that isn’t coming any time soon either.

Overdoing something or under doing something always has its ups and downs. So what’s the right amount? I have no clue myself – it’s in a lot of ways a million dollar question that I am looking at answers for. That said, I hate it when people are opportunistic – I’m referring to the HR guy who was opportunistic in asking a pretty young girl to leave it if she didn’t like it, trying to use current market conditions. I also hate it when people can’t appreciate and learn to live by the rules. I think you don’t belong in this society if you can’t learn to live by rules. It’s the difference between being civilized and uncivilized.

Isn’t that every Indian’s crib with Pakistan not acting on our evidence?

Image Credit: DBKing

Popularity: 17%

Satyam! A name that needs no introduction and a name that is in the news for all the wrong reasons!!!

While what has happened is a horrific, isolated and hopefully a standalone incident, the real repercussions are felt by the people who work there. As someone who started his career in Satyam many years ago, my heart goes out to all of them.

Satyam’s business was all about people. To their credit, they did a terrific job in terms of attracting a lot of top talent – Satyam’s talent database is a treasure trove with folks with the dream IIT & IIM combination, Engineers from the brightest and best institutes around the country who chose to make a career in IT. They have them all.

Leadership (while being associated with the chairman who fell) across functions is pretty solid too. Some of the best people managers that I have met in the business were in my early days there. Learnings from there have been invaluable for me personally and I think I was extremely privileged to get campus picked and work with some fabulous peers and leaders.

Not for the skeptic, they have a few people who are a waste of office space and furniture too! Let me not deny that. These are folks who were “loyal” to the “Raju” and moved from being Executive Assistants and Front Office Executives to Project Managers – They were a disaster. They were where they were for the loyalty factor.

I am not surprised one bit to see the Raju community still backing the actions of their ex-chairman and Bhimavaram going ga ga to buy shares of Satyam which is heading to become another General Motors- Worthless!

There’s also a website in his name where people STILL sing praises…now this is simple sycophancy!

It’s unfortunate that the actions of one man and his greed have led a bunch of really talented people to doldrums. I sincerely hope and pray that these talented people get picked up somewhere / somehow.

Good clients have led the way making offers to some of the stars that work on their assignments. While the talent market is stale, there is always a space for niche and I am pretty hopeful that some of these really good folks there get picked up in due course of time.

Signing off, did we see something similar to this and Lehman – GREED!! Isn’t it an age old saying that greed kills… How true!

There are some things that are a legacy and these never change!

Image Credit: Swami Stream

Popularity: 15%

If you’ve worked in a software company, I am sure you might have come across many funny situations that remind you of Dilbert, the famous cartoon strip.  I am just trying to present some of them (of course a bit exaggerated) within the frame of Indian IT companies.

Manager: We have to streamline our process.

Meaning: No billable work from the customer. Be prepared for documentation (Aaaargh!).

Manager: We have done a good job so far. We need to raise our bars and provide value added service to the customer.

Meaning: I am due for a promotion/appraisal.

Manager: Anyone can write a couple of lines of code and make it work; but how well we can adhere to the process and improve our productivity is something far more important.

Meaning: You are due for an appraisal (promotion is completely out of question).

Manager: Knowledge management and dissemination should top our agenda.

Meaning: Someone in the team has decided to leave the company.

Manager: (To someone outside the team) I think ‘my guys’ would be able to help you.

Meaning: You shouldn’t ask such technical questions to a Manager, that’s way too complicated for me.

Manager: Congratulations! You are nominated for the Employee of the year award!

Meaning: I came to know about the new [better] job offer you’ve got!

Team Lead: May be you can do a bit of research on this topic and give a presentation to the team.

Meaning: You’ve been asking too many questions and I don’t know the answer.

Team member (In a meeting): Do we have a team structure in place?

Meaning: Well, I think I am fit for the role of Team Leader..you know..if you insist..!(Imagine an accompanying evil grin)

Colleague: I am not interested to work in the US; I have lots of commitments here.

Meaning: To Hell with the embassy! They rejected my visa.

Team Member: I have written a new tool and it saves a lot of time for me, may be you all can give it a try.

Meaning:  I want an onsite (overseas assignment).

Team mate: What yaar, stupid company, stupid management, stupid project. We aren’t getting much exposure and I don’t think anyone in his right mind would work here! It’s high time to change our jobs.

Meaning: If you leave the company, I will stay, my position will be safe.

Colleague: How long is your onsite assignment?

Meaning: How much is he going to earn..(Sigh!)

To the Manager: (In an appraisal meeting) Is there going to be a change in our team structure?

Meaning:  I know I am not going to get any promotion, is there someone else getting one?

Team Mate: Please don’t forget to fill the timesheets, ok? (Chances are high that this question comes from your colleague one fine morning, leaving you in complete bewilderment.)

Meaning:  I have already ‘assumed’ the role of ‘Lead’ you see..! I will be the one approving your timesheets in future.

Image Credit: Oliver PK Mao

Popularity: 72%

It’s back to basics – so it seems. The ” good old days” – days when firms would simply throw money to retain people, Compensation Managers were given marching orders to “do what it takes” to retain talent and in the bargain delivered top dollar increases and fancy variable pays, when counter offers was the need of the hour and kept compensation managers on their toes -

This all seems to be a passe!

With global recession tightening it’s grip around us and with nightmares like the 50B US$ fund run by Bernaud Madoff coming to light, analysts say this is the tip of the iceberg!

I wish it isn’t because what we have been through over the last few months has been more than what we can take. Unfortunately, my wish isnt going to come trough and this will last a few more months – the damage, unraveling like a ravaging hurricane, the magnitude of which will be know only when the storm passes!

While we duck for cover and realize that umbrellas are not enough to weather this storm, compensation managers are going through a pretty different and unique year end / compensation planning process. Quite a few firms that I know, both big and small have said they don’t plan to do merit raises this year – some of the other players are even taking a call on doing away with variable pay plans, not to mention the scary issue of headcount reduction.

So what does the employee feel?

Well – at least some of my experiences tell me that the real world is living in an ivory tower. I’ve had a few folks walk by to me and say, “Can you tell me how much increase I am going to get ? “, “I want to know the “exact” percentage of my bonus!” and I am stumped for words!!!!

It’s sad that a majority of the work force thinks that this is a passing cloud. I can’t blame their ignorance because they probably don’t understand the magnitude of what we are contending with today. But as someone who reasonably understands the situation, I can tell you one thing – the good old days are gone forever and will never ever return.

Hold on! I’m not a pessimist. I am an eternal optimist!!! I’m not predicting doomsday for a second. The point that I am trying to make is that corporates are learning lessons and learning them hard and fast – mistakes teach us a lot and this one is no different.

This too shall pass say some – Yes!.. This too will, because we can’t expect to see things never improve. They will and they better.. Just that the new world order has arrived and when things get back to normal – it’s back to the days of our parents, days when value propositions will be driven by learning and growth opportunities, loyalty to firms having some value and of course, compensation being at the bottom of the stack..

Good bye good old days, welcome to the new world order!!! – if your firms want to survive!

Image Credit: Luismi1985

Popularity: 22%

I often wonder when I read about the bailout packages dished out by Governments all around the world to aid banks and other financial institutions that are on the verge of bankruptcy especially the amount of money spent in bailouts in last couple of months is staggering. I am even surprised that there was not a single protest from anywhere and these financial criminals go unpunished. It is the common man who is going to bear the burden of additional tax and increased debt.

Why should tax payer’s money be used for bailing out greedy banks and corporations that have done business only with profit as motive and no concern for morals or ethics and absolutely no concern for the consequences for their acts. Putting public money in corporate coffers is just not acceptable. Financial crisis that has happened is a man made crisis done through substandard policies, deregulation and greed. I can understand putting in public money for natural disasters like earthquakes or folds. Governments all over the world have spent trillions of dollars on bailouts already

This kind of bailout is ABSURD!

We must collectively protest this .This is real money, my money, your money, our money which is hard earned paid in the form of tax.

Why should banks and financial institutions which never cared about the creditworthiness of people who lined up for loans or the soundness of derivatives business be rewarded. We should not allow government to write checks on tax payers’ account. This measure will increase the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recovering the amount and not holding anyone accountable for the misdeeds they have done.

What is the signal you are sending to the corporate world and investors through these bail outs? Do your businesses as you like and we will reward you for the blind errors you might commit. Is this the right way?

As far as I am concerned, there should be a thorough probe into the events that have led to this disaster and every CEO, Executive or Government who were part of this financial carnage should be jailed, their assets sold and put in a bailout fund.

It is time to wake up and realize that greed is the basis for all the financial disasters and find a way, may be strict disclosure norms, increasing the transparency in strategic decision making, making one responsible for his actions and

Few weeks back Finance Ministers of several Asian, Europe and Americas countries met and decided to act rapidly on the financial crisis

And now stock markets are being artificially manipulated by bailouts by governments.

When corporations see that the demand is coming down , it is natural for the stock to take a beating. But every other day we see CRR, SLR rate cuts which means our money is loaned back to us and the market stages a rally of any significance. FIIs and Badla traders slowly and routinely remove their money from our markets to invest elsewhere leaving the retail investor in a fix.

It is certainly not a good thing for a responsible, saving, taxpaying citizen, with no defaulted loans or credit card debt to compensate for the that Wall Street gamblers will go bust on their stupid and greedy bets, over-leveraged and poorly managed businesses with huge losses.

Let me tell you some interesting fact. Lehman has set aside $2.5 billion as bonus for their employees even as they went bankrupt for the great performance they showed in pushing the bank to bankruptcy.

What do you call this?

Popularity: 33%

Image Credit : Leo Reynolds

“Man, I have a 6.35 am to catch. I am running late by 10 minutes. I am not sure if I will be able to make it. Lets talk tomorrow” says Vineeth

“Suresh, I started this venture part time with few of my friends. I am already working 10 hours at office and another 3 hours to commute back and forth. I am expected to deliver both at work and at my new partnership firm. I am finding it difficult to manage, yaar. Can you tell me a way to come out of this ?” says Sudheer, an HR executive at an MNC

“Hey Verma – I have had another bad day with my wife. She keeps complaining that I don’t take her out for a movie or for dining, I don’t spend time with the kids and is not a partner to all the hardship that she undergoes. What do you reckon. Do you think I should quit my job and take up a new one or leave her alone?” …asks Srinath, another MNC executive who also happens to be a partner in the venture in which Sudheer has put his heart to.

What do these three guys have in common ?

Anybody’s guess – They all have the same problems that you and I face every day – lack of time.

I wish I could give them a part of my time and add it to their allotted 24 hours in a day. If only we could buy and sell time, then the whole world would have been a different phenomenon altogether. I am sure, time is the only commodity left to be traded.

Did I give some ideas to the commodity market, just now ?

Never mind, that’s a different topic altogether to discuss. Will do it some other day.

Lets get down to business and “Show Daddy” how time can be well managed.

One common thing that I have noticed in many youngsters and the old alike is that everyone craves for time.

Time is money.

• Ask a trader, how much money will he lose if he steps out of his desk for a few minutes.
• Ask a sprinter, what is the value of the split of a second
• Ask a CEO, what is the value of his time

All of them would say one common word – Invaluable.

Time is invaluable.

So, coming back to the point – how do I, as an individual, manage my time most effectively ? How can I fulfill my role  as an employee, a wannabe entrepreneur, a husband, a father or a son, a neighbour or a colleague – how ?

Everybody needs my time and no body tries to understand how much invaluable it is to me .

I have long introspected these questions, time and again and have come up with a formula  called “Show Daddy” which works fantastically for me. Hope this will put things into perspective

1. Set expectations

This one is a tough one. I can set expectations for myself but how do I do set it for others who are so dear to me ? Well, that’s the question that runs in many of our minds. My answer to that is simple.

Learn to say “No”.

This is a golden two letter word that brings an eternity of happiness. Take things which you can fulfill. Say “No” to others. If your wife asks you to come for shopping and expects you to be with her all through her shopping expeditions and you don’t like it a bit, say “No”.

The other option is to go with her but with a laptop and an air-card chipped in, so that you can make use of your time while she takes 4-5 hours of creative time for selection and end up buying nothing (No offence to lady readers but it’s a fact that many of us go through). If you don’t have a laptop, go buy an ASUS EE PC – that is the smallest yet powerful micro PC that you can get in the market. Wouldn’t cost you much – say around $300 or so.

The example given above holds good with your boss too.

Eat only what you can chew. If you accept what you can’t deliver, he will question you on your commitment, integrity, honesty, sincerity blah blah blah and you will call for unwarranted discussions.

In contrast, if you put your foot down, you will set his expectation right and in the process save lot of time and energy for yourself

Key message – Put your foot down where it matters by saying “No” and thus set expectations

2. Have a plan

Well, I don’t need to tell you the importance of having a plan. Having a plan is half the job well done. Imagine a project manager managing his project without having a set plan, set objectives, set goals etc.  We will speak more on this in the sections coming but you get the point, right ?

Without a proper plan, you would seem like a headless chicken with no sense of direction, whatsoever. A plan gives you direction. A direction gives you the goal and the goal shows you the path to achieve that goal.

Improper planning or the lack of planning itself can cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars of wasted or overutilised man hour effort trying to figure out what needs to be done and when.

Bottomline – A plan is the backbone and a step by step guide for your success.

I thought of writing the rest of the time pieces but I know you are already exhausted already. I am taking a break now, will be back tomorrow to complete the rest of the article in this 5 part series.

Meanwhile, digest what I said just now, do some introspection and see if you can start making some changes to your life….just some !

Cheers !

Popularity: 18%

Image credit: Zoltan Papp

Most of us are busy in our day to day jobs. We live from paycheck to paycheck. And boy ! Do we struggle ? Inflation is growing by the day and our pay packages are not sufficient to live a decent life in such turbulent times. We have bills to take care of, a family to answer to and most importantly a shoulder that carries so much weight.

Some of us are gifted with a silver spoon but some of us had to work our way through. Those who walked the walk know every bit of pain that has gone through in building the foundation of our future. We have done our bit so far – we took care of the bills, the family and managed it fine.

In our good times, we bought house but now we don’t have the resources to pay the monthly installments. In good times, we had enough surpluses to carry out a luxurious life but in turbulent times like these, we have to think twice to even put a liter of petrol in our tank. Oil price at a staggering Rs.62 per liter in India – wow !

What do we do now ? How do we manage our expenses ? What to cut and what to keep ? Should I cut down my quality of life or should I explore more avenues ? – These are some of the questions that come to our minds quite often.

I have listed below a few techniques which we often preach but seldom practice. This is our opportunity to do so.

Increase your income

On the face of it, it is easy to say difficult to do. Think through it again – you might have an answer. There are flexible work at home opportunities that are available on the net – Explore them. Try out ebay, blogging (pay per post), e-consultancy, e-teaching, e-concierge services etc in the areas of your expertise. It is just a matter of time before you start seeing the revenue. Consistent persuasion will definitely see you through.

Curtail your expenses

Money saved is money earned. Simple logic however it may sound, the hard reality is that curtailing expenses is one of the toughest decisions to make. Obviously, you can not ask your child to stop eating or your wife to go to beauty parlor – can you ?

So what is the solution ? The solution needs a little analysis and of course time. Take a look at the quick tips given below

• List down the expenditure that you incur on a month on month basis. Do not miss out on any of them.
• Rank them in order of necessities, good to have and luxuries.
• Strike out the luxuries, keep the necessities and debate over the “good to have” ones
• Take a pragmatic approach for “good to have” ones and eliminate which is not on the priority list
• Rank them again in order of its feasibility and cost-benefit analysis
• Strike out whatever is not feasible and narrow down your list
• From the narrowed list, start curtailing your expense in order of the most cost benefit derived

Sell your Non-Performing Assets

If the assets that you have accumulated over the years have not been giving you good returns, chances are that it will also not give you good returns in the future. The best option at this stage is to sell these non-performing assets at the best price that you get. Your non-performing assets could be a real estate that you’ve purchased long back, mutual fund units which has reached your desired value, some of the non-essential gold jewellery etc.

Consolidate all your efforts

We’ve heard the word “Consolidation” in corporate parlance. We hear it very often during mergers and acquisitions and the like. Take a step back now and think how you can implement the same concepts to your day to day life ? Consolidation is the term used for bringing things together. When you are in distress and are going through a rough patch, consolidation will play a very key role. Below are a few examples that you would have heard of it before

• Consolidate your loans
• Consolidate your assets
• Consolidate your income and expenses
• Consolidate your relations

Net net, consolidation is the key to your fight against turbulent times.

Bring in efficiency

Efficiency is a term most sparingly used, these days. There is a false notion that the term “efficiency” can only be associated with work or business. No, it is just a myth that needs correction. Take your personal example – Touch your heart and ask yourself as to how efficient you are. More often than not, you’ll tell yourself – no matter how good I am to the outside world, I am atrociously inefficient when it comes to my personal affairs. I do not know how to manage my household expectations, I eat more than what I can chew, I overpromise and under deliver blah…blah …blah. Time to do some introspection and see what suits you best and how best can you deliver what you are supposed to.

The underline message is that efficiency can be brought to every aspect of your life. It is best left to you what, where and when you want to bring it in.

Think long term

History will tell you that if you are short-sighted, chances are that your success will also be for the short haul. Take example of trading – If you are a day trader, high chances that you will lose money big time. If you are a short term trader, you make small money. But if you are for the longer term, this is where you will make maximum money.

This logic is applicable to our daily life, as well. Stability is key, think long term. Do not get bogged down with the short term pits and falls. Those who see short don’t see far. You got to see far, if you have to fight the turbulent times.

As Joseph P Kennedy (father of John F Kennedy) once said

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

This is so true especially in these turbulent times

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What makes an effective manager?

Is it the all pervading, all knowing, all encompassing, all loving manager? Well, you know that for real, such managers don’t exist. So how do you become a good manager? How do you become the manager that people look up to? Which is the best approach, the carrot or the stick? How do you handle conflicts within teams (intra and inter) ?                   

There are no clear answers in management. For the years I have spent managing teams I have come to the conclusion that there is no white and black in practically all the situations a manager has to face daily. Ironically the problems which hit you might more often than not would be linked to teams rather than the manager’s manager. This can be an article for any new leads, managers or people who are looking at managing teams in the future.                                                  

Managing teams is like balancing an egg, on your forehead. If you do a good job at it you would be able to make the cake and eat it too otherwise it would be the proverbial egg on the face which would haunt you internally within your company and externally when you face a low self-esteem due to the previous experience.                                               

Every team and every entity that you manage would spring up some surprise or the other. The key for a manager is preparing himself for the same.

Learn the basics

Before joining a new team always check which competency, which framework, the vintage of the people, and the kind of work that they do. Learn as much as you can about the work that the team does. This helps in getting things done when you are able to delegate work based on competencies and capability.

Strategize per business needs

Understand what your manager and the business/client needs and align strategies accordingly. This makes it easier to cater to point no. 1. Additionally make it a point to review progress with your manager timely. This helps in your career growth and also visibility with the manager. This in turn also helps you in getting selected for key projects if you are able to perfect the art of showcasing your strengths in these regular sessions.

Integrate with the team

Every team has its share of talented, lack of any talent, aggressive go-getters, aggressive no-getters, job hoppers. Identify your people and the type they represent. Have periodic discussions with your team members to understand their aspirations and work on their career goals by either delegating the ‘networking’ responsibilities to specific team members and identify possible areas of realignment for the future.

Shout but don’t shout

Be assertive and aggressive but temper it with a layer of caution. Also understand that you would face the ‘players’ who do periodic RnR (resign and re-negotiate) sessions. Try and keep this to a bare minimum as such negativity can only impact the team and its morale in the long run.

Network to learn

And of course, last but not the least, network and learn. The importance of this can’t be stressed enough. Learning has to be an unending process. An enterprise with its myriad functions and responsibilities gives ample scope to explore new vistas and areas you never dreamt of excelling in. Networking helps you get to places reserved only for the ‘elite’…and then again you would Network!

These are some of the tips which would help you climb the career path faster. And yes, one more thing, be humble coz what you get today might be taken away from you tomorrow or the people that report into you today might become your manager someday

More about this later

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