VUCA world today

The guest speaker in a business convention today -b4biz ( WBWA) spoke about the VUCA world and how the business today is going through turbulent times.

Business today is undergoing uncertain times. The complexity of starting and surviving in a business is increasing everyday. Social, economic and political reasons over and above the government regulations try to strangle us. How do we handle these challenges?

‘Many people predict that volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are going to become more and more prevalent in the business world. To manage teams in the VUCA world, we should be aware of the changes that this kind of environment can cause’

Go on and read an engaging insight into the VUCA world and how do we thrive in this environment as an individual, an organisation and a society.

Content courtesy: Mind Tools

https://www.mindtools.com/asnydwg/managing-in-a-vuca-world

#vucaworld

#businesschallengestoday

#msme

Why do we make average quality products in our MSME sector?

There is an interesting comparison that I received in my FB today about how we fare poorly compared to emerging economies in manufacturing quality products. This has been the bane of this sector and it may be one of the reasons that stifles the growth of this segment.

Let us see how do we compare with other nations:

Micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) on average have only half the productivity of large companies, and less than that in emerging economies.

MSMEs’ economic and employment contributions in 16 countries account for more than half of global GDP. Their contributions relative to large businesses vary widely from country to country, but boosting the productivity of these categories of enterprises could substantially increase GDP, especially in emerging economies.

India has a long way to go in improving productivity. Stop chasing quantity but run after quality.

The picture attached here ( Courtesy: McKinsey&Company) is an excellence depiction of how we lack in producing quality products! MSMEs are born with sparks in the founders’ minds to create differentiated products or services for the consumers. The start seems to be always with good intention but down the line the pressure of growth, lack of funds and RoI assumes priorities and the quality suffers. ‘Chalta hi’ attitude at every stage of production or workmanship results in average quality.

Do you agree?

#excellenceinmanufacturing

#msme

#qualitynotquantity

What type of person are you ?

Do we ask this question to ourselves? Or did someone ask us this question?

As managers, knowing ourselves is a challenge because we behave differently at different times both in the work place and at home. We are good at thinking and solving problems but not so good in handling people. Some of us handle people nicely, neither bossy nor appeasing. They act with tact and sensitivity to get things done.

Carl Jung, a management expert of the past century pioneered the study of personality types. He thought that people oriented themselves towards the world in two basic ways. “ Introverts” are most happy when they are by themselves, doing their own things; they do not pursue social activity and often feel uncomfortable in it. “Extroverts” give their lives meaning from interaction with people. They are depressed when left alone.

Human beings are complex and don’t fit into boxes. Jung advocated some theories, as a starting point to self – analysis. He defined four functions – Thinker, Intuitor, Sensor and Feeler . The four quadrants of the above picture explains the traits of these types of persons and where they could fit in the work place or society.

A leader could use these inputs to delegate the right type of work to people who fall into those categories and try to get the best out of them.

Strategy is not an one stop activity

Strategy is about business growth and how do we achieve it;

Strategy is about achieving Corporate leadership and how do we work towards it;

Strategy is about right market positioning of product or service and how do we reach there;

Strategy is about achieving excellence in operational parameters and how do we make them happen;

Strategy is about the functional excellence and how each of the functions works at its best.

#businessstrategy

#corporatestrategy

#operationalstrategy

#functionalstrategy

How to become a better manager and a boss?

A few decades ago, I read these 100 tips but not sure if I had practiced all of them. They apply at all the time and for all the managers. Surely many of them got into my head and stayed there without me taking any extra effort to remember when you had already imbibed them into your daily routine.

That’s how a manager or a boss stays on top of what is happening with his/ her business and people.

The author had indeed distilled the wisdom with his interactions with many professionals and given it here for our benefits.

#thehighperformancemanager

#highperformanceboss

#managerialtips

#howtoexcelasaboss

Evolution of writing ✍️

Palm leaf writing
Peacock feather writing

Dip pen writing
Fountain pen writing
Mechanical Typewriter
Ball point Pen
Electric/ Electronic Typewriter
Electronic Printer
Inkjet Printer
Laser Printer
Voice Printer
Digital Printing
3D Printing
.
.
.

Over the last few centuries, the art and the method of writing have taken many forms. Have the human thoughts also evolved and progressed during these times ?

They have evolved surely yes, due to humans conquering technology , but are they felt more beneficial to the society today? – from love, affection, devotion, valour and unity to hatred, jealous,demeaning, derogatory and destructive?

When those olden days’ scholars wrote on palm leaves, they had time to think and write scriptures or hymns or virtues that had preserved the human minds from evil thoughts and actions. Today, majority of the minds have been largely conditioned to think and act in a harmful way to fellow humans in the name of free speech and writing.

Progressive in technology, Yes.
Progressive in thoughts & actions, Not yet.

We have to blame ourselves because we have allowed us to be at this sorry state of co-existence of less love and more hatred in society that is constantly fuelled by the divisive forces and shamelessly propagated by irresponsible, guiltless media. What are we leaving behind for our future generations? Do you hope they will be less materialistic and more compassionate?

#evolutionofwriting

#hatredwriting

Capacity Planning for individuals

This is not something that we do ONLY in a factory or in an activity that consumes many hours of men and machines.

Have we anytime spent time to know our capacity and done a planning to get the best out of us? This capacity is about knowing our physical energy, mental energy and knowledge to complete a work on hand in a given time duration. By stretching our capacity, can we take up more work that is being pushed to us in the work place? No, an individual’s capacity has limitations and overloading it with more and more work breaks down people. The work on hand also suffers perfection and we don’t achieve the end goals.

Our individual capacity planning dictates us what work do we have on our plate, how much time we need more to complete that work and can we take more work. Our ability to think on these lines helps us to judge if we have reached our capacity or not. Multi-tasking is a nice trait but again if we don’t prioritise our thoughts and actions we don’t get to experience the intended outcomes.

Some individuals are bestowed with enormous amount of physical and mental energies but they also need help to prioritise what they need to do by their assistants. We wonder how a leader of an organisation or a country is able to attend to so many events / meetings and it is their assistants who help them to achieve their daily routine.

As a leader we need to assess the resources on hand to take up a job and are they enough to complete it. Demanding more work from our team without understanding the constraints doesn’t help anyone.

#capacityplanning

#mentalenergy

The Entrepreneurial trap

Entrepreneurship is a springboard for some to achieve great things as successful businessmen and is a trap for many to stay put where they had started, deeply engrossed in day to day mundane work that takes away their focus to stay and grow the business.

Most entrepreneurs don’t take help to push them out of their zone to know how are they doing and what they are doing is right or wrong. Entrepreneurial journey is not a short stint but a life long marathon that saps the energy, resources and family life. It requires great determination to stay rooted in the journey with unwavering motivation, a committed team and a supporting family.

Entrepreneurial burn-out is the most talked about syndrome in the start-up business world. One runs after money in the initial phase and later spends a lot of time in acquiring those first customers. Most of the entrepreneurs do pro-castination and fail to focus on productivity that is so essential to sustain their business.

Let us look at some of the tips from coaches that would help those running their business.

Flexibility

Businessmen are so engrossed with their day to day problems that they forget about their families and friends and think about only money. Too much focus on one issue becomes burdensome and there is no one to tell them to step out and get another perspective.

Procrastination

Some businessmen become obsessive and get bogged down about trivial administrative issues. They fail to notice other larger issues that are impacting their business that eventually derail it. They don’t know how to solve them.

Delegation

Entrepreneurs are keen to monitor everything on their own and spend a lot of time in doing it. Expanding their business and new customer acquisition get less attention. They fail to delegate routine jobs that don’t need their time and effort.

Automation

Move away from manual work of keeping accounts or calculating salaries for employees. Automation of tasks makes you organised and you find you have more time on hand to spend on business. Automation can be extended to your processes too. It may cost you more but benefits will repay the costs.

Handling debts

It is not right to deploy all your funds in the business. You have your family to take care of. Loans are essential to expand your business or for product development. Don’t shy away from taking a loan that can be managed and repaid on time. Accumulation of debts takes you towards huge cash outflows as interest payments and eventually that kills your business. Always keep the debts to a manageable level.

Books of accounts

It is a good habit to know from your accountant about the incomes / expenses, tax obligations, tax benefits and government notifications. Tracking your book of accounts once in a fortnight helps to avoid surprises at a later date.

Help from a coach / expert

It is not wrong to take guidance from coaches/ Experts to help with you inputs about the market, competition, strategies and your strong & weak areas. Sometime you forget the real value in you.

It is a great feeling to start a business but running it to earn good profits requires deep commitment, a good team, good understanding of customer expectations and a supportive family.

All the best !

#entrepreneurship

#entrepreneur

Work- Life Integration

Work -Life balance has given way to work – life integration. In the traditional way, we used set aside 8 hours for work, 8 hours for family & prayers and 8 hours for sleep & rest. This is a disciplined way of leading our life when we worked in a factory or an office. In the IT era , we worked without any boundary to our working hours, working with our laptops at the airports, cafeterias and even at home dining table.

This led to a new concept of work-life balance to enable we spend a good amount of time with the family. Work and life were made to look disconnected and there was a hard line separating them. Vacations were encouraged, family days were invented and weekend work was discouraged. In spite of these arrangements, were we able to switch off our minds totally from work? Physically we were with the family but mentally we were still at work. Didn’t we? Both employers and families didn’t seem to get the best out of this system. Boss was unhappy and wife/ kids / parents were unhappy too.

But did our ancestors follow this pattern? Somehow I feel they were more organised and seamlessly brought in work -life integration. Agreed, they were not running after money, their lives going at a leisurely pace and doing this way they accumulated wealth for their next generations.

How did they do?

They used to sit at the front porch speaking to family members and also instructing workers what they must do and where they need to go. Men travelled with family to attend to some functions and at the same time attend a court hearing or buy something for their farms. Women did the daily chores but were also planning for the years ahead and did what was needed for the elders, the children and the husband. The list goes on…

A new concept is now emerging – work -Life integration.

Work-life integration creates flow and harmony between all aspects of our life. Instead of separating work and home, responsibilities get done when they need to according to the schedule that fits us the best.

But work-life integration isn’t about finding a ‘perfect’ balance between work and life. It’s about finding a balance that works for you. It’ll look different for everyone and change over time as your circumstances change. The key is to create a balance that works for you and be flexible and adaptable.

Here are some tips:

Take your family along on a business trip

Have business meetings at far away places with spouses spending their time on their own or together.

Establish yoga center or walking clubs or Exercise spot that keep the minds and the body agile at the work place.

Have a flexible WFH or a part – time work schedule, not like the one we had during COVID that had a burn-out effect on people.

If the spouse or kid is unwell, do your work from home.

Prioritising & Delegation are important aspects of work-life integration. You just can’t do all the work yourself that keeps you occupied all the time with no time to family.

Keep your video calls or zoom meetings short in day to day work. You will find you have a lot of time on your hands that you could use for the family.

Conduct awareness programs to employees on work-life integration and how it will help them and families.

Working mothers have tough time to mange infants. Let them choose their own work hours that go with the child’s sleeping schedule.

The rewards of WLI is huge if planned well and followed by everyone at the office. You could manage attrition in a better way with more satisfied employees.

Go on and read this stuff:

https://www.betterup.com/blog/work-life-integration

There are loads of stuff and suggestions on this subject is available on the Internet. Choose the best approach that suits you if you are a leader in an organisation.

#worklifeintegration

#worklifebalance

The power of our voice

Most of us are indifferent to what is happening to others – injustice and discrimination. We get affected only when they happen to us. We don’t stand-up and voice our opinion or view when others go through a tough situation that seems to be out of prejudice, inequality, racial or communal view. As long as they don’t happen to us, we remain unperturbed and unsupportive to the affected persons.

We remain in oblivion and fail to establish the fairness in dealing with people. We don’t ask questions when discrimination happens in front of us. We don’t speak up and voice what is right and wrong.

A society becomes more aware of its duty when individuals become aware of their rights and obligations to that society that is essentially a collection of individuals.

The young minds in our midst need to be educated as to why they should stand up against unfairness. It starts at our home.

A video that has come up in my WA feed is a poignant reminder of what we are supposed to do and know how our voice could bring about changes in people and the Government.

#discrimination

#inequality

#injustice

#raiseyourvoice

Thanks to original maker of this video