Best wishes for a great 2012 from Vyaktitva. We have lined up an interesting start to the year.

An emerging paradigm of our times is the shared ownership model in organizations where all stakeholders take full responsibility of achieving the organizational vision as well as the business results. A core implication of this model is the increased sense of purpose and passion at the individual level & greater meaning in work.

To deliberate further on this theme, the OD Collective (in association with Vyaktitva & Prerna) invites you for a session on “Building purpose, passion and ownership in organizations and people” by one of the thought leaders in the Conscious Capitalism movement globally – Dr. Raj Sisodia.

Speaker Profile – Dr. Raj Sisodia is the professor of Marketing at Bentley University, he is more famously known as the co-founder and Chairman of Conscious Capitalism Institute (CCI) in the USA. His book “Firms of Endearment: How world class companies profit from passion and purpose” is considered a foundational work in explaining the percepts and performance implications of pursuing a conscious approach to business.

Dr. Sisodia has an MBA in Marketing from the Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and a PhD in Marketing & Business Policy from Columbia University. In 2003, he was cited as one of “50 Leading Marketing Thinkers” and named to be the “Guru Gallery” by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He was recently chosen as one of ten “Outstanding trailblazers of 2010” by Good Business International and one of 2010’s “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America.

Topic: “Building purpose, passion and ownership in organizations and people”
Date: 18th January 2012
Venue: ITC Maurya, Diplomatic Enclave, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi. (Courtesy – ITC)
Timings: 10 am – 1.00 pm (followed by lunch)
Costs: The session will be on a cost-sharing basis and it comes to Rs 3500/- per head

OD Collective is a body where HR heads and CEOs / Business heads meet regularly to share and learn on topics of interest in the area of design and development of organizations.

We would love to have you and your colleagues join us for the session. This session will be useful for people in HR and business roles that require motivating people, building ownership and enhancing their performance. There are limited seats so please let us know latest by 15th Jan 2012.

For Registrations, please mail us at info@vyaktitva.net or call Gagandeep Singh at 9891935972.

We look forward to your presence at the session.

Regards
Team Vyaktitva

Objectives:

The intervention was aimed at equipping the managers to:

• Share the key competencies & the behaviors with direct reportees
• Practice the art of giving & receiving feedback – conducting performance appraisals effectively
• Create IDP’s for self & the reportees

Process followed:

Vyaktitva used the ADDIE framework to understand the real gaps/ issues that affected performance.

Based on an analysis of the various stakeholder inputs, we designed an intervention, developed courseware and implemented the intervention. The details of the process followed are as below:

• Analysis – The analysis involved understanding their current business realities, taking feedback from business leaders, HR leaders and other stakeholders & taking inputs from existing role holders through 1-o-1 interviews, FGDs and Survey technique. Also, program feedback of any past interventions of the same nature conducted by the organization was studied.
• Design – Based on the results of the analysis, curriculum was designed for the workshops which involved defining organizational and learning objectives in sync with the Learning and Development philosophy of the organization and also its link to other organizational/ HR processes. After this, the course of the workshop was finalized w.r.t. the learning objectives of the workshop and its design.
• Development – In the development stage, we prepared the course presentation/deck, course material, finalized the training resources and activities to be conducted during the program.
• Implement – The workshops of 1 day duration each were conducted to equip the managers in their assessment and feedback skills & thereby enhancing their performance appraisal capability.
• Evaluation – Based on a mutually agreed evaluation plan with the client/s, program feedback was evaluated & program report after each workshop submitted to the client highlighting key observation of the group by the facilitator.

Diagnostic intervention

A leading organization from the consumer durable sector was looking at accelerating their growth in India & therefore wanted to analyze the current situation and the key differentiators that would help them achieve their objective.

The objectives identified for this intervention were:

• To identify the key strengths of the organization
• To identify the key opportunities in the people domain
• To identify the next steps to be taken to make the journey on the present curve successful

Vyaktitva, to begin with, conducted a diagnostic study for the organization to recommend a blueprint of actions that need to be taken to ensure that growth is achieved and sustained. The steps followed were:

Understanding the context of the organization:

The overall vision & mission that underlies their main business objective, business strategy & plan towards achieving the desired results, the structure, systems & processes laid out in the organization, HR policies and documents and finally the actual business results achieved.

Gathering feedback through interviews from management and existing employees to gauge impressions of people, strengths in the organization that boost performance & aspirations, symptoms that seem to be visibly affecting performance & the various opportunities, fears, anxieties etc within people that are thwarting growth

The diagnostics helped in identifying the following pivotal gaps/ opportunities:

1. Align people to the vision & values of the organization
2. Redefine the structures & roles and collaborative decision making body In order to create a culture of shared ownership
3. The HR processes & systems required to achieve the business strategy and create a performance oriented culture

Inputs collected from the discussion during the Dialogues@Vyaktitva event – 16th September at The Palms, Gurgaon.

PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP

The guests very enthusiastically participated in discussions with other likeminded guests on psychological ownership:

• Why is it so critical for an organization?
• What needs to be done to build it?
• What gets in the way of psychological ownership?
• How to build psychological ownership?

Here is a synopsis of the engaging discussions that took place during the event which we are sure you will find very valuable.

WHY IS PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP SO CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIZATION?

1. Psychological ownership will help organizations move faster (and in a more sustained way) up the growth curve.
2. The culture of the organization impacts the speed with which people pick up common space tasks.
3. Growth leads to bureaucracy and control systems which in turn lead to things falling between the cracks.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO BUILD PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP?

1. Design systems for the heart, not just the head.
2. Create collaborative spaces / roles not just competitive ones.
3. Ensuring awareness of impact of roles helps create ownership.
4. The HR community can do a lot of work around building external systems.
5. Align life goals to professional goals.
6. Give people the freedom to operate.

WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF PSYCOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP?

1. Grey space ownership happens due to:
   1. Presence of apathy or no or low WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for the employee.
   2. Poor HR design in terms of organizational structure, job descriptions and its alignment to the overarching vision of the organization.
   3. Low business understanding and / low risk taking ability.
2. No one is responsible for building the culture; values.
3. Low or lack of focus on interfaces between functions and processes – these are usually not defined in an organization – a part of ‘NO MAN’s LAND’.
4. Incentive is missing – ownership does not get measured.

HOW TO BUILD SPACE FOR PSYCOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP?

1. Create energy around a common vision:
   1. Committed to a countering a common enemy.
   2. Committed to a super-ordinate purpose.
2. Reward ‘boundarylessness’.
3. Ensure visible leadership at all levels and that values flow right from the top down to the entry level.
4. Build a culture of emotional ownership before financial ownership.
5. Hire for the right attitude.

Click for Dialogues@Vyaktitva event photos

The evening saw a confluence of the stalwarts of the Indian Industry. And why not , the event being the first of its kind – Dialogues@Vyaktitva. A unique concept initiated by the even more unique boutique consulting firm Vyaktitva to engage some of the best minds in a panel discussion.

The uniqueness is there in every aspect of the event. From the topic – Psychological Ownership in the people for their organisation, to the audience – a mix of CEOs, HR heads and Leaders from the NGO and consulting world, to the approach and flow of the evening – a panel discussion where the panellists sit with the audience for the discussion across four tables, engaging groups on different aspects of the topic and then moving on to other groups to discuss a new topic.

A word about the luminaries present. Gracing the occasion were one of the NIIT founders – P Rajendran, Bausch + Lomb India CEO – Harish Natarajan, AkzoNobel India MD – Amit Jain, Head HR Pepsi – Samik Basu, Director HR Airtel – Krish Shankar, Head HR UCB – Rajesh Raj, Head HR ITC Hotels – Anil Sharma…nothing less than a collection of some of the seasoned professionals in their own right.

The topic of psychological ownership has been a burning debate of late in the Indian Industry. So no wonder that Vyaktitva chose this as the topic for the discussion for its first of its kind of event.

The founder partner of Vyaktitva – Arjun Shekhar aptly kicked off the session by giving a background to the topic (a personal favourite of his) and narrating a few stories and jokes. The tone was set right by this lively sharing of personal experiences – some amusing and some nostalgic – but all equally thought provoking. The story of a typical organisation where one person keeps digging holes in the ground and a second one comes up to fill the same. On being asked by the supervisor as to what are they upto, they reply that there is usually a third person who is responsible for placing the plant in that hole! But that day he was absent – so they continued to perform their roles without him whether that was leading to any results or not.

Wow! We all must have numerous such accounts from our own experiences.

The next hour saw an animated frenzy of discussions, debates, questions and interjections across the four groups in the hall. From the why of ownership, to what kind of an environment helps create it and also how the leaders can enable such ownership in their organisations, the discussions saw everyone engaged to their best. Some speaking out their hearts, some being a tad sombre (perhaps reminiscing on personal life experiences), a few really sober (well the bar was declared open right at the start of the event – and you bet, it definitely contributed to people opening up nicely over the evening).

The culmination of these discussions being a collective view of key ideas and thoughts shared across the groups – marking a collective learning experience for all those present.

Discussions over – time for some cocktails and dinner! The post discussions time was even more animated. The evening also saw old friends coming together to remember some of the nostalgic moments, the young and the experienced sharing thoughts, ideas and burning concerns in their professions across industries, people building their professional network…all over a choice of drinks and a scrumptious menu.

Midnight saw the Vyaktitva team celebrating the success of the event continuing the animated discussions of the evening late into the night. Well done team Vyaktitva!

Watch this space – More to come (Click here to see Photos)

(contact mayank@vyaktitva.net | +91 9711331152)

• A management thriller spoof
• Makes fun of Dan Brown-style secret society/conspiracy theory plots
• Presents new management / HR theories about corporate ownership through a fast, funny story

About the Book

An ordinary corporate executive turns assassin to save his firm from ruin with the help of the master of a secret guild out to revolutionize the corporation…

Sanchit Mishra a.k.a. Sancho is staring bleakly at his performance appraisal form when an invitation from the mysterious Progress in Work Collective lands on his desk. His colleague and confidante, Pause Daniels, urges him to dig deeper. Soon he finds himself sucked into a secret world of anonymous superheroes out to revolutionize the business world by attacking that flawed god it worships – the share market. This parallel life pumps some self-esteem into Sancho, preparing him to do what’s needed when the firm is taken over by a multinational and an ugly industrial relations situation ensues.

The case for the transfer of ownership from shareholders to employees is made through Sancho and Pause’s story in this witty, fast-paced corporate allegory.

About the Author

Arjun Shekhar is one of the founders of Pravah, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to encourage urban youth to become active citizens. He worked as an HR professional for several years before that, and now runs a consulting firm called Vyaktitva which explores the relationship between an organization and its people. He has used his consulting experiences to write A Flawed God, a novel set in the corporate world.

Every organization faces such situations where well planned strategies run amiss because of things falling between the cracks in No man’s land. Is a forward supposed to save the goal when it’s under attack or does she just wait until the scare is over or the deed is done? Is a sales person also responsible for quality? Isn’t that production’s job?

The same person at home will take responsibility of every aspect that affects his/ or his family’s life from getting the bathroom flush repaired (its not Maintenance’s job, its mine), to getting the drapes changed (not Purchases’ job), to changing the nappies and cleaning up afterwards (it’s not Admin’s responsibility, it’s my house, after all!)

We believe these gaps in ownership in large organizations (and not so in smaller organization units like a family) arise because we hand over tasks rather than the spirit of the organization to the individuals. In the way the system is set up today, the organization’s owners are its shareholders. People who will never set foot in the organization, folks who could be called investors at best, punters at their worst. They may own an asset but certainly don’t have psychological ownership of the space.

Shouldn’t at least the psychological ownership of the organization be with the people who live in it and make meaning out of it? Isn’t an organization a community first and only a thriving community can become a great and sustainable profit making platform?

Vyaktitva initiates these discussions with industry experts and Arjun Shekhar (Partner at Vyaktitva) the author of a book that’s been winning many accolades from its readers - ”A Flawed God’.