Sponge! Shield!! or a Sword! !!

Are you a Sponge, a Shield or a Sword!

This was what I asked the audience when I was checking their homework.

During our assignments, we do PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) on the MOM (minutes of meeting) agreed upon with the target company.

It's but natural for anyone to get embarrassed if s/he gets a feeling of being 'checked'.

But coaching does warrant finding out if the things are going on as planned (studying rather than 'checking'). That's why PDCA cycle is sometimes called PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycle!

Course correction during the study cycle is the natural sequel.

How do people respond then!

Some try to defend why they couldn't do what they were supposed to do.

Some come out with swords to argue out how that what was agreed to itself was wrong.

Some others confess if they did not do it, while few of them ask for help having tried but 'failed'.

The last category is the real learners!

I call such a learner as a sponge. When someone comes with an attitude of absorbing new learning (a sponge), s/he ends up getting more of it (more of the better).

In the learning field, both the former categories, the shields that defend, and the swords that come out, are ultimately the losers. Because they think they are the best!

The sponges think that there are better ways than what they tried. There's no the best in their dictionary. Only better!

Because better is always better than the best!!

Former is a moving target heading towards excellence!

Because of complacency the latter may end up being stagnant!!

So it's upto us to be a Sponge, a Shield or a Sword!

Being Sponge is a More-Win-and-Less-Lose!

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

Being Perfect! 

Waste-to-eat Sea-to-drink

That's How Morons Work

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

How To Make A Difference

Old-Problems, New-Reasons !

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Performance ... Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily

Kaizen, even in air!

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

Old-Problems, New-Reasons !

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

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

Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?

Macro-Micro Syndrome

"You are too much into detailing."

Many might have heard this, mostly from bosses. Sometimes same bosses are heard saying, "you lack meticulous execution."

They tend to use former one if and when their macro vision is reasonably in control. They use the latter if macro vision goes out of gear. That's exactly isn't desirable: Choosing one over the other as a matter of convenience.

Generally for any success to be sustainable, both the macro and the micro are supposed to be complementary to each other. It's difficult for one to stand the test of time without support of the other.

It's difficult to reach a desired destination within a desired time with optimum efforts in absence of having a plan and a design in the first place. Nor is it easy to reach there without taking each step meticulously.

"When batting, I was only focused on the next ball — not on the scorecard", said cricketer Rohit Sharma on notching up the highest-ever individual score in one-day international cricket hitting a breathtaking 264 runs against Sri Lanka in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

The late JRD Tata had made commitment to make improvements even on cups and saucers used on his own airlines while on flight number 109 in 1955. 

Does it mean JRD and Rohit were too much into detailing: the micros? 

Does it mean they weren't focused on macros: their goal, target or performance level? 

They very much were!

In fact every successful person always has clarity on her vision and goal before setting out to execute it. It's just that thereafter they meticulously plan for resources and execute each step each day (Nichijo-Kanri as they say in Japanese Management parlance) inching towards their goal rather than bothering about the goal itself at each and every step.

Without detailed checking of condition and level of oil and water, condition of stepney, etc. setting out in a vehicle to reach a destination is not only foolish but is risky as well. Former is about setting the process right to get the result. The latter is about expecting result without putting in adequate efforts.

Former, the micro detailing, is about calculating and safeguarding against the probable risk factors in order to reduce their impact and the risk of failure, if any, while enabling to achieve the macro goals.

Hope meticulous execution doesn't conveniently get ridiculed for it's so-called 'detailing' nor does a typical macro visioning strategy get ridiculed for it's powerful imagination as "Daydreaming".

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

Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 

Old-Problems, New-Reasons !

Ant Knocks Elephant Down 
Will It Work Here?
Can-changing-thoughts-change-nation?
In-big-problem-wear-hats-to-solve-it 
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important 
Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It! 
Judge If It's Paralysis-By-Analysis 
Will It Work Here? 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Does recognition really matter 
Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ? 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
ABCD of India Shining 
Do You Ask Right Questions?
Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'? 

Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ? 

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Comprehensive-Strategic-Audits

Will It Work Here?

Other day there was a friendly debate on whether mobile-money service will work in Indian demographics. Although I knew it was offered in India, some apprehensions such as ease of transactions, security, cost of service, etc. kept me away from it. 

One of the debating friends working with a phone-company demonstrated a transaction including registration process within a minute. That's the time I could experience relative ease of accessing it. I could unearth a few difficulties in the process though. But I was surprised why phone companies were yet to speedily target the middle and high income group segment of the market inter-alia which is more likely to adopt it speedily than the mass-market.

If it was "successful across Africa" (as quoted by one of them) with it's inherent diversities and difficulties, then a modified business model should work in India too, I said. It might call for adopting it and differentiating it for the segments within target markets. The marketing-mix strategies may vary depending upon the segments: Demographic, Geographic, Behavioural, Psychographic, etc. Selling would take place as a sequel anyway. 

In fact such a service is a boon to any developing country provided the service is localized, made easier and faster and at the same time needing lesser efforts-n-resources; in short if it was made leaner.

Demonstration to me for instance was done on an Android device. How could it be made user-friendly and agile for various devices with differing features and technologies?

Steps performed were displayed in English language. It called for memorizing a password too. How could it be made easier for the entire spectrum of demographics covering various levels of literacy (using fingerprint lock for instance instead of password), levels of income, population, etc? How could it be made easily accessible to geographical markets?

Based on voice of the target market such as above, 'push'-type personal-marketing like that done to tackle apprehensions of a typical prospective customer like me should have been in place. It is necessary at least until a product & process of using it and educating the customer is made simpler and leaner. Ultimate goal should be to create a 'pull' for the offer for enhanced sale.

Differentiating the offer by bundling it could be an added advantage such as that done innovatively by organisers of a music programme that actually prompted me to write this blogpost. One highlight boasted of in it's advt was: "Mr Tom, Dick and Harry coming together for the FIRST-TIME". The concert was at an inaccessible venue located far from city. So the second differentiation it highlighted was, "Bus service available after the concert".

Dynamics of the 'mobile-money' and the 'music concert' as offerings do differ. But the point worth learning therefrom as denominator for any offering in general is the meticulous removal of hurdles  specific to differentiate it, to reach it to and to grab a particular target market with a sense-of-urgency. One may be able source a lot many innovations to do so if internal stakeholders in particular are engaged in the focused thought process. It should be done ethically though *unlike the concert organisers. Only then it's more likely to work sustainably!

Footnote: *Usually very few customers read between the lines and fewer still catch the 'catch' if any. Knowing such a consumer behaviour unethical organisers capitalise on getting some audience that doesn't bother to read. For instance in case of the concert some do tend to attend for the novelty effect of "FIRST-TIME" without realising that it was of 'unknown' artistes Toms and Harrys. Some also miss checking whether the bus service was free or came with an *asterisk. The organisers in this case seemed sure of getting some such audience.

Here are a couple of mobile-money services in India: Airtel's Airtel-Money and Vodafone's M-Pesa.