Localized benefit ! Call center counsellors.

One of my very close friends, went through a most troublesome pregnancy.

Just fate - I would say.

Drs. would say differently, and name a 21st chromosome to cause all the issues. End of the day, the 21st chromosome was not invited by my friend to cause the rubble any way ! So fate it is ....

The baby goes in to ICU post delivery. And very predictably the Health Insurance company says, they don't cover the baby expense because of "pre-existing conditions".

Hmm..!!!  pre-existing for a baby just born ? How could that be ?? As per the insurance company though - "this is a condition that could have been predicted using aminosynthesis before birth and could have been averted".

And hence it has become a pre-existing condition for a baby ZERO day old !!!


It does not stop there... I did the bare minimum bit of picking up the argument with the insurance company through a few friends in HR. And mentioned that my friend is under severe mental stress because of the condition of the baby and physical stress also, because of the surgery. Hence when insurance doctors talk to her, they should be considerate.

To my surprise, our own HR suggested to use another benefit available to employees under mental stress. A call center counselor. This is very popular in the west, where individualism rules supreme. Most of the people in distress wont even have any one to provide a pair of listening ears. They can use a call center suave person listening to the sad soul and empathizing. That is therapy !

And  a registered benefit provided by the employer.

Here in India, one drops a bit of tear, 20 family members and friends are physically beside you to help !! What use does a call center counselor have here really ???

Shame on the HR departments copying blindly the benefits from west !!

"Core USP"

I walked in to a bi-cycle store, which is oh so rare in Bangalore urban area. You can find Car dealers, but the old fashioned bi-cycles, which used to be the ONLY way of transport when I was a kid, is no longer a common sight on the streets. Yes ! You can find an upscale mountain or racing bike easily in Bangalore though :)

With Rampant wealth creation and consumerism, one thing that has not visibly changed and that is "service" sector. So, you can manage to buy a cycle, but wont find a place to fix a puncture easily !!!!

Finally I found this new cycle store in a busy street, which is close to our place. Walked in to buy a cycle. And asked that ONE question that bothers me... "Can I come back here for any repair if I need to ? " !!

I would not have been shocked if he said - " No Sir, we just sell (high margin, less work) bikes. You ll have to go out of city for repair". I would have accepted the answer too, as I ve gotten this answer in past and accepted, although grudgingly !

But the answer was a welcome "Yes we do ! " followed by a warm short story - "We started very small cycle repair shop 30 yrs ago in North Bangalore. From that repairing shop to 5 major cycle stores all over Bangalore, we have grown. We have grown - but what used to be our core business, that is cycle repair, we continue to do that. That's our root. Core of our business. can't Quit."

So come back any time when you have a problem, - "Call me on my cell before you come " ... and like everything in India, a mobile number to go !!

Welcome change.. but then, I ve not tried it out yet :)

Kids get it easy ..

This Deewali, we launched an initiative in the apartment association to have a cleaner Deewali.

Simple agenda - Lets stay away from crackers ! And focus more on cultural stuff, eating good food, dancing to bollywood music etc. But then, those were all taken care of by the over enthusiastic kids of the apartment complex.

My agenda was just to convince or at least tell as many families to not burst crackers and save themselves some risk, some money, poisonous gas and unpleasant loud bursts of sound.

Some visuals with lil kids with Nebulizers, gory pictures of child labor, and accidents, all part and parcel of the campaign.

After tiring amount of posters and e-mails, I had the toughest job to do. Explain my own kids to abstain from crackers.

A day before Deewali, I tried talking to them (9 and 6 yr old boys - who enjoy bursting crackers a lot and under peer pressure to burst this time too).

Surprisingly, before I could tell them anything, they were telling me NOT to buy crackers, as pollution, accident .. blah ..blah .. They even showed me pamphlets their school has distributed.

Retrospectively, I should ve sent the kids door to door on this campaign :) They seem to be the most matured ambassadors of this.

Tears ...

Yes ! Emotions have a lot to do with how one carries his leadership.

Emotions - powerful tools to touch and connect and hence influence desired decisions. 

Display of emotions is how you make  your decisions more palatable, more acceptable and less rational  for your followers and peers.

What modern business (and not that business has changed in thousands of years) has taught through "Emotional Intelligence" is, how to "play" the emotions to get to a decision you want to get to ! Something that is re-discovered in board room lingo, originated from the Mahabharat days.

A certain display of extreme emotions in form of tears in a fellow colleagues eyes, who has worked for 15 yrs for the same corporation, has made me derail a long-in-design org structure that was being put in place to achieve very ambitious results. It was a lunatic at work ! And few drops of tears from a very sensible and matured fellow leader, arrests the lunacy !

Those drops were out of "passion" towards work or "passion" towards "norm"..but out of "passion" for sure.

Business results and org structures can wait ! Time to cherish that level of passion now.

Value of "absence" in leadership

We have heard, value of "presence" and price paid for "absence" of leaders ! Now, lets read about absence.

Once a loyal, very senior man who manages most of the floor for many years, wanted to go on a long vacation. Around 6 weeks. He knew the entire team depends on him. He has never taken off, because he has this great sense of ownership and loyalty. After all there are many undocumented answers to numerous unassuming questions, that pop up everyday.

The man had all that in his head. Out of seer experience and kin observation. A good employee indeed.

The man had two bosses (one solid line reporting and one dotted line reporting). So he had to go talk to both of them about the intention to get a 6 week long vacation.

The first boss is around his age. Been in the company for long long time, just like him. Very matured and knowledgeable.

When the man approached him and asked for the vacation, the boss #1 smiled and said, "Go ahead. You need some time off. Enjoy your time off".

This bothered him ! Hmmm.. he thought his absence will raise an alarm bell. And in the least needs some planning to make up for his time off. On the other hand the boss seemed pleased that he is taking off ?

The boss #1 sees the puzzle in his eyes and explains, "If you have set the organization right, coached your people correct, then your absence wont be felt. If you have not done that, there is no better opportunity to get that feedback first hand".

Then the man goes to the other boss - a much younger MBA and expressed his desire to take off for six weeks.

This guy is much more aggressive and believes in running shop with head than heart.

To his surprise the boss #2 says, "Go ahead enjoy your time off". This time he is puzzled again.

Boss #2 explains, if all your teams escalations come to me when you are absent, I would know how much you have been dealing with day in and day out. How much you keel me off the daily management. I would understand your real value when you are absent.

The man did have a great vacation !!!

Airport - Not open for business !!

Stepping out of the hustle  bustle of City life is definitely a welcome change. But one thing for sure.
There is a certain level of "inertia of motion" as you step in to the sleepy hill stations or laid back beaches.

One such this happened when I landed in a North East hilly, sleepy town. Beautiful place ! Me rushing to make to the airport check in counter, as per the airline instruction.  Sufficient planning went in to make it on time. Early morning flight. Get up earlier, leave time for commute, and leave 1 hr for airline that is mandated now a days for check in and security.

When we reached the airport, at the front door the security person says, "Airport Khula Nehi, Staff nehi ayehe ab tak".

We waited there until the staff showed up, very anxiously close to the flight time. Casually said, "Flight is on time" and checked us in.:)

Immense pressure for SLA ..

McD welcomes the burger buyers with "Get your order in less than 1 minute or get a coke free".
And they go ahead and walk to talk ... put a Sand Clock on your tray to make sure the order is on before the sand runs out.

The people behind the counters, run like machines - I can imagine, having such micro level targets and constantly running, can be really irritating :(