Bored? ... It's an opportunity!

Are you bored?
It's an opportunity!

You are on a long drive alone. It's over an hour that you were driving. The road is straight, smooth, with hardly a car or two passing bye swiftly, and without any roadside shops too.

Driving at not less than sixty kilometers per hour it becomes so monotonous that you start getting bored. At times you make mistakes such as not slowing down at turns or rumblers. What do you do now?

You decide to take a break. You look for a choicest Dhaba (roadside eatery) around. Luckily you get one.

You stop! You take a bowl full of water... Splash it on your face. Standing by the side of a tree you take a fresh look at the mountains around... Feel great... Order for a special cup of tea... Look around noticing things and the happenings minutely by the time tea arrives... Enjoy the tea sip by sip...

You remember a few friends that were disconnected for a long time. You remember the time that you had spent in your native village.. the sea.. the silky white sand... Suddenly there's a flash of some ideas on a problem you had dwelled upon over a couple of weeks. You make a call to your colleague, give a couple of instructions. Now you feel good, relaxed and decide to leave.

Now you are driving with fresh insights.

Sometimes the daily routine gets so boring that you get stuck. You begin making mistakes. If you look at such boring moments with the above insight, actually the so called boring moments offer opportunities if you choose to take advantage of.

It's an opportunity to switch on to do something else other than the routine on hand: Something else that had been pending, some reading, some cleaning up leading to laying hands on a long-lost paper, some power stretches to compensate for missed exercise, reconnecting a couple of acquaintances with a couple of calls, or may be even a Napoleon nap.

The switch over with consciousness may turn out to be a creative break... Some new thoughts to be jotted down... Some new creations... who knows!

Boring moments are actually flashes of opportunities to do something else before getting back to the routine with fresh surge of energy!

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan
Take your career in fast lane!
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Do You Ask Right Questions? 
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?
No Time? Micro-Meditate! 
Talk In Order To Listen! 
Eternally Happy!

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !

When Safety Becomes Sorry 

Drove To Hell ... Almost !  

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !!

Part-1

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it! Part-2

How To Make A Difference

Big-Be Or Bug-Be !

Make checklists your friends

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Waste-to-eat-sea-to-drink

Not So 'Raddi' Business Model

'Raddi' is a common term used in India for scrap papers that include newspapers. As a slang when someone says it's 'Raddi' it means it's rubbish.

But the business of buying-n-selling 'Raddi' itself isn't 'Raddi'. It's actually an evergreen business flourishing with an enhanced focus on Reuse-Recover-Recycle (3R).

With varying rates in various seasons, in monsoon it fetches the least price.

Like each business has it's tricks, the 'Raddi' fellow has not so 'Raddi' tricks in his Business Model. Can you spot one in the picture?

Leaning the 'Raddi' against legs: The trick is to support it so that it weighs less than actual.

He buys at ten (10) bucks per kilogram and sells at fifteen (15).
You think he makes five bucks profit per kilogram.
Gross profit of fifty (50%).

Wait a minute! There's something more to it.
The weight 'shown' to you on scale: ten (10) kilogram is false.
If you ask him not to lean the 'Raddi' against body, his trick number-one gets preempted.
Ask him not to hold the weigh-scale by two hands. Trick number-two gets preempted.

Minus his creative innovations (the tricks), same 'Raddi' weighs twelve (12) kilogram.
'Tricky' bonus of a cool twenty percent i.e. (12-10 means) two-kilogram extra material or 0.20 per Kg that fetches him rupees three extra.
So the 'real' profit is five bucks plus 'tricky' bonus of three bucks.

Earning eight (8) bucks over ten (10).
Gross profit of eighty percent (80%) almost.

Not very difficult maths.

'Raddi' Business, but not so 'Raddi' Business Model though!

Of course with an unethical side to it that's unacceptable!!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:  Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?
That's how some business partnerships work
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Take Habits For A Ride
That's How Morons Work
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 
Do You Ask Right Questions? 
The Business Of Businesses
Business Eco-rgonomics

Be Bug-Be Or Big-Be ?

Overcome The Tyranny Of Small Minds 

While reading the above spiritual article, it occurred to me that there could be four kinds of people in the corresponding context.

1/ Big people with small mind: Bugger-Be !
2/ Big people with big mind: Bigger-Be !
3/ Small people with small mind: Bug-Be !
4/ Small people with big mind: Big-Be !

First category of people (read the corresponding blogpost on the link) is the one that is powerful enough but doesn't bother about other's presence. Bugger-Be doesn't make contribution to other's rightful needs nor to the societal ones.

Last category of people (the so-called small people with big mind: Big-Be !) is the one that is not powerful at all. But it empowers itself in order to bother about other's presence. It also makes diffrence to the small world around them by contributing to other's rightful needs. Through their value adding actions, it makes others think and act!

It's actually the Big-people (the first and the third category) that can make significant diffrence to others and to the socio-economic needs.

Wheel-of-Worldly activity, however, is somehow getting managed because of presence of the last category of ('small') people. The wheel might run faster (and in a better fashion) if the quadrant of the first category of people reduces and the size of second category of people (Bigger-Be With Big-Mind) increases.

Easiest way for the Bugger-Be to turn into a Bigger-Be in this context is to copy actions of the last category: That of the Big-Be !

Big-people do have power to influence bigger circles of people at a bigger scale!!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  

ABCD of India Shining

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Will It Work Here? 

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

That's how some business partnerships work

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Put internet ON, she said.
Rushing to the WI-FI switch he replied: It is already ON.
Put it ON on the tablet I mean, she said
You should have said so specifically, he said while enabling WI-FI on tablet.

After a while accessing the tablet she asked: Why isn't the browser ON?

You told me to put the WI-FI ON on the tablet, he exclaimed.

Oh My God, you can't even do these simple things, she murmured. My reply to the email is already delayed by half an hour!

She appeared to exclaim at his weak IQ on jargons. Actually she wanted the Chrome browser ON. Due to lack of alignment on 'what to call what?' he went around doing rework (work to repair defect).

Often such communication gaps make work difficult in daily life. Not only do defective communications bring down expected performance levels but they also hurt egos being taken for granted. 

In fact, most problems in this world crop up due to communication gaps. Sometimes though gaps might have to be created strategically for common good as a Krishna tactic.

What's the solution?

Good to have a clear, concise and common understanding on terminology people use at a given workplace in particular. Say, 'WI-FI' for WI-FI switch, 'Internet' to enable WI-FI on tablet and Browser by its name 'Chrome', 'Dolphin', etc. as was needed in the above case. There should have been a common understanding on 'what to call what?' without diluting or mingling them.

In case of a workplace, terminology such as above might need complimentary labeling of a given equipment. Creative signboards might be needed for various spaces going beyond the conventional ones such as say a 'toilet', or a 'washroom', etc. They should visibly bring out differences among them with the help of icons or pictures or sketches.

Labeling, Signboards, etc. are a Seiton practice done in Five-S tool of Kaizen in order to remove ambiguities. They bring in uniqueness in communication. Defence services in particular use such uniqueness  very powerfully in order to prevent crisis from emerging in absence of that or in order to execute orders in split-seconds without defects in communication.

Bringing in common understanding such as above with a corresponding procedure in manual for work standards is actually a part of creating highly standardized workplace.

It's a must to reduce communication gaps at work. It's a must at home also in order to improve work although while doing so one might appear as an unreasonable, idiosyncratic fellow.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

Kaizen-on-Crisis-Situations

Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-1)

Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-2) 

Discrimination Cremated! But How Long? 

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

A Ride To Hell

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it!

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

How Many Times Do You Wash Hands

Make checklists your friends

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy! Why?

Have you ever thought why suggestions  usually don't get 'bought' even if they are good? Even the ones given by bosses to subordinates get implemented half-heartedly, if at all.

The cause of this dilemma can be sourced at the top.

On 'hearing' about world class companies "topping the number of suggestions" with over "6 million" in Matsushita in so and so year or "over 53 suggestions implemented per employee in one single year" in Toyota (in 1987), typically the decision makers hastily installed 'suggestion-schemes'.

While number of suggestions in such excellent companies gradually increased, in 'hasty' companies the total system flopped. Blame was put on the 'prevailing bad culture here' while crediting the 'opposite there'. They even forgot 'which wall' their own 'suggestion-box' was hung. Some of them 'hung' another one during a new crisis.

Actually the real cause is that the 'hasty' managers didn't understand 'keys to success' of 'suggestion-systems' in such excellent companies and that they are much more than merely a 'box'.

Many didn't know that 'suggestion schemes' are called as Kaizen-TEIAN in Japanese companies. They got 'imported' with half knowledge. Naturally with their ill-effects they turned out to be a big flop as expected.

The way they were installed, rules themselves were 'killers of more ideas' than very few that were 'accepted': often a fraction of the total. The ones 'accepted' got disproportionately rewarded. At times the awardees were found to be same people year after year. In some companies these people even 'budgeted' their earnings. They knew when to 'create a crisis' and when to 'solve' it by their 'so-called suggestions'.

Kaizen-TEIAN system is exactly the opposite. In fact it means an 'implemented suggestion' or as a Kaizen as the world knows now. If generating suggestions or ideas is one side of the coin then implementing it is the other side. So a coin itself is a Kaizen or a Kaizen-TEIAN.

Role of the bosses or the idea-collectors is to involve subordinates in generating innumerable suggestions by training/retraining them on appropriate methods and then enabling them to implement all of those with resource verification as their own primary responsibility. In fact one of the performance criteria (KRA¹) of bosses is to 'make everyone a hero' by helping everyone contribute an idea and help him implement it.

There is no question of 'someone putting suggestions in a box' and then 'someone else assessing them' to 'accept' or 'reject' as was done by non-Japanese 'suggestion schemes' that revolved primarily around economic benefits and degree of it's creativity rather than 'motivation' of the Suggester.

Initial enthusiasm due to 'novelty' of such 'boxes' might attract novices to put an idea or two in it. But would you not be indifferent if yours get repeatedly 'rejected' due to it's 'smallness' or due to someone else's 'bigness'?

Or would it not be demotivating if it gets handled the way it does in a typical housing society where office bearers typically react saying: "talking is easy" or say: "you" do it rather than "let's do it together". Most often their body language not only 'repels' an idea but they see to it that it doesn't get implemented.

Under such circumstances leaving 'common-good' to it's destiny, people keep their brains under 'lock-and-key' while behaving in common places. After all it's 'your rule' not 'my idea': that's exactly the human psychology Kaizen-TEIAN system pre-empts.

In Kaizen-TEIAN there is no question of slapping or punishing a failure. It's about handholding subordinate to 'open  umbrella during rain' (an improvement action to tackle a problem) while giving credit of doing so to him.

This is where the journey of 'doing a Kaizen and reporting it with due credit and recognition to others' begins. With sustained and concerted efforts it accumulates into a 'million Kaizens'.

Without clarity and alignment on such key differences of Kaizen-TEIAN as above, fate of 'suggestion-schemes' will continue to stay doubtful.

Footnote-1, ¹KRA is Key-Result-Area

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Big-Be Or Bug-Be !

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Will It Work Here? 

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

That's how some business partnerships work

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Recently, once again, the Honorable Mumbai High Court pushed Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) to remove hoardings.

Contempt of such court orders has been shamelessly going on for past so many years. Both the BMC as well as so-called 'leaders' creatively ignore court orders.

Now a days even school going children appear on the hoardings. The day is not far when family tree of a few generations appear on the hoardings alongwith 'sonography' pictures of their 'expected' children as well.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, every human being has a mental need to get recognised.

In case of Hoarders-of-filth it has become a mental disease. For such people such a need seems to have become a desire ('want') since they don't have anything that public will willingly recognise. Perhaps that's why they put hoardings of their birthdays, publicity of work that they have not done, and for many more in-explainably creative reasons. They don't even bother that apart from defacing the town, at some places such hoardings create blind-spots or distractions prone to accidents as also create fire hazards: Typically 3D: Dirty-Danger-Difficult like situations.

So good that the court has initiated various actions on inaction of local municipalities.

I think in order to make such actions sustainable by making municipalities more accountable they should be asked to create a portal where the public can upload pictures of hoardings. Corresponding municipality should statutorily be made to submit a monthly-return accounting for actions taken against the number of such pictures uploaded. This will be a sort of measure of performance for their accountability.

The actions reported in the Return should go beyond the first-aid that of bringing down such hoardings within say 48 hours of uploading the pictures (by the public). The cost/consequences/punishment to the concerned officials should necessarily be preventive in nature.

Boom-Barrier Boomed, Country-Doomed

The other day (28th December) Automatic-Boom-Barrier on toll-booth on Mumbai-Nashik highway near Igatpuri  'automatically' fell on our car. Nearly-missed the curse of 'broken-down' high-technology that could have resulted into fatalities. Luckily it didn't fall on windshield. We escaped crisis with a mere dent on top of the car. Whether we get compensated for the mechanical damage or not is a distant 'if-or-but' subject.

But the point worth highlighting is about the costs-of-poor-quality of work or wastes due to breakdowns.

Moving at snail's pace in the 'Toll-Queue' on that Sunday evening around 20.00 hours we ended up waiting in the queue for more than 10 minutes.

I think there were eight lanes with perhaps ten vehicles in each lane.

Couple of booths and hence the corresponding lanes were non-functional. Sitting in the vehicle, I couldn't ascertain whether they were broken-down or were reserved for 'VIP movement'? In India self-professed definition of VIP is anyone creatively sporting a magnetic 'Beacon-light-fixture' or a 'Stand for a color-flag with a black plastic-cover' and sometimes a vehicle carrying 'Bulky and/or Rowdy' personalities in 'Pure-white politician style attire'.

So while negotiating for the 'working'  lanes, some kept there engines ON. Some 'started' and 'stopped' until could finally manage to get through the toll-booth.

It's another subject whether the toll-tax should continue or not as per contractual agreement. But one thing is sure that a thesis is not needed if the road authorities choose to brainstorm answers to following questions.

What is the cost of fuel wasted?

What is the cost of delays to various stakeholders?

In order to save the above costs,
why can't the flow of vehicles be continuous by expediting 'Smart-Card-Reader' technology?: It shouldn't be difficult at all to do so across the country in less than a few weeks time considering that India is a leader in software-technologies.

Actually this example is just a representative one that can be extended to all delivery processes: Governance, Social or Business.

Unfortunately Indian leaders are leaders in playing dirty politics in decision making as well. They are 'smart' in record-breaking-speed on decisions related to vested-interests. Also they are 'leaders' in procrastinating (rather placing barriers in) issues of public interests so that the 'starving' public can be manipulated during elections. They are not bothered about such Booms banging over country's economy and dooming it.

By the time they realize importance of using their offices to speedily act on this,  can the thoughts in this post trigger each one of us to do something?

Surely yes. One may get some ideas by visiting 'Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation'.

Meanwhile keeping my activities On in this direction and keeping fingers crossed.

Looking forward to your suggestions and tips in the COMMENT-BOX below or a Tweet @Shyam Greets.

Digital technology http://care-is-cure.blogspot.in/2017/01/digital-corporate-yoga.html 

Technology in-place, security dis-placed http://care-is-cure.blogspot.com/2013/03/technology-in-place-security-dis-placed.html