Serendipity and Learning

It is indeed the age of the autodidact and the world is filled with Ekalavyas . It is fascinating to see how they learn - especially on the things that they are motivated about. There is new fad called the Rainbow Loom that has somewhat taken the kids by storm. This involves making things using special rubber bands which are I think specially manufactured for this purpose. (I say that, because the rubber bands are better in quality than the cheap ones we are used to and have some designs on it - among other things). There is an entire body of knowledge on the internet on the design of these bands. It has its own jargon - with names for the design. There are a million youtube videos from which they learn. The process is also fueled by somewhat of a social component. The kids talk and show each other the newest designs they have learnt to make and they come home and try out new stuff. All in all it fuels a vicious cycle of learning and creativity. This is the nature of learning ...

I had a chance to attend the first Experiential Training Summit in Bangalore today - thanks to the good people at Ozone . Organized by Center for Experiential Education , the conference, true to its name was all Experiential. The keynote by Vijay Padaki was good - only he can pull of what he did - combining esoteric theory into a simple package with timing and wit. It was followed by workshops - which were real, experiential workshops - where every participant got to do something or other. Whether it was by Satish of Somethings cooking or by Rajeev of Knolskape or by Ashley of Graphic Facilitation  or the Pankaj of Center of Creative Leadership or Anirban of Painted Sky . (I had to miss the last couple of workshops, but they did promise to be interesting - they were on storytelling and theatre). But that experience made it really worth it. Of course, its obvious that for an experiential training summit, the workshops would be experiential, but to pull it off is somethin...

I have written about this before , but, if you want to build change in the organization, would you not use your managers to drive it? I mean, engage an external consultant by all means, but your managers have to lead the charge and your leaders have to be viscerally engaged in the change process. That means it is not enough if your managers and leaders are certified in a (any) methodology and they regurgitate it. ( See here  on why that might not be enough.) But it is an interesting question. On how does one build change? Change culture? The answer is in the sustenance of the change. What happens at a session is an event. But culture change is not an event. It is a process. A long drawn out process. And it is necessarily led by the leaders. And their reportees. And their reportees. And so on. A friend was talking about an Indian services company to me. This company sponsors major running events today (yes, go take a guess). In this company, from the top down, the company i...

Many moons ago, an organization faced a problem. They had rolled out a survey and the survey showed a drop in some points on some parameter (I can tell you, but I would have to kill you). And then, with remarkable, alacrity, along came a program that was touted as the solution to all ills related to survey points dropping down. Consultants were engaged. A master program was created. Supporting technology was conceptualized and all budgets for the project were green lighted. The portal was built. Calendars were cleared out. Sessions were organized. Master trainers were trained and created. These master trainers then spread the message among the minions. They did it. But then real work caught up with them. So, the boxes were ticked. And they went back to work. And the survey happened again. And they waited. With bated breath. For the next survey result. Which came. And the scores stayed there and in some cases, dropped down. And then the sessions and the trainers were remembered a...

For anybody in any service type of function - be it Human Resources, Training, PMO - there are always two ways to do the role. One is to take that little black book, a pencil and ask, at every table, "Sir, what can I get you?" (Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like - but notice, I did not mention the uniform.) The slightly sophisticated method around the above is to use some really cool digital stuff to take those orders - like they do in fancy restaurants - where they use blackberry (then) or tablets (now) and that sends the order right into the kitchen. And sometimes they give you these buzzing thingies that even buzz when your order is ready (how cool is that). (But yes, again, it is exactly what it sounds like.) Variants of the above include when the customer says, there is too much salt in my salad - to take it back and fix it immediately. Or when the customer says, the room is too hot, apologize profusely and talk about other things and hope that works. Or, as...

As someone who has led teams and been on teams led by a variety of leaders, I believe that the leader is accountable for anything you see on a team. Any thing you see on any team, there are only two ways to interpret it. Either the leader wants it that way or the leader is blissfully unaware of what is happening in the team. If there are issues in the team (of any nature), and the leader has not acted to resolve it - it only means that the leader has not done enough to change it or is happy to let the status quo continue. There is no third way at all. For a short span of time it is possible that the leader may not be aware of certain issues - but the moment she is made aware of it, the leader has to act - decisively. If the leader does not - there are only two possibilities - the leader chooses not to or the leader is not effective. PV Narasimha Rao, the former Indian Prime Minister once said - Not doing anything is a conscious choice and he was a master tactician - but not ever...

I was reading this fascinating book - The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson about what makes Sales people successful based on research from CEB and it just struck me that the Challenger profile applies for practically any service job. (And the book does mention that) But more importantly, in tune with my earlier post on relationship management, the book trashes the point of relationship management and these sentences caught my eye,  "Personally, I believe that a customer relationship is a result of and not the cause of successful selling. It is a reward that the salesperson earns by creating value."  "The corollary to being a Relationship builder is to be seen as an order taker in other functional areas" [Quotes from the book] Nuff said.  But moving on, in any work we do, it is important that we generate insight - and the Challenger profile of people do exactly that.  But yes, all in all a fascinating read - for anybo...