What gets measured and reviewed also gets better! As it is true with other things in life, so it is with the performance of people in an organization.

Situation & Complexity

The company has been an infrastructure provider to the leading telecom players of the country and the business is in no way easy at all! From tough terrains to terrorist activity, from inclement weather to threat of life – the people have to face it all and yet deliver. With service levels touching 99.95% and above, it definitely is not an easy task. More so as not meeting the service levels means stiff penalties and thus loss of revenues. It is even tougher to not just perform at a certain level, but to keep raising the bar continuously.

The organization understands that a key element to this is building the competence of its people in executing the business strategy. And for that, the ability of its managers to assess their people and develop them over a period of time is very critical.

Question: How do we effectively assess and develop talent?

Solution: Having worked on an intervention earlier with the client and having been deeply associated with the Telecom industry for more than a decade, Vyaktitva understood the company’s core business strategy and its culture. This allowed Vyaktitva to design a specific intervention that enables managers acquire the key skills required for assessing their people on their performance over goals as well as the organizational competencies (that cascade from the vision and values). The focus of the intervention was in fact broadened to include building skills over the complete PMS cycle – right from setting of goals to review and assessment of performance keeping both objective and subjective elements of performance in perspective, discussing the performance with the team member using a process that helps build ownership and identifying the areas of strength as well as opportunity for the person in order to ensure successful development in focused areas.

Using elements of Instructional Design and Adult Learning Principles in the workshop design, Vyaktitva consultants conducted these workshops for the organization (covering roughly 300 people) with very high positive feedback as well as effective transfer of these skills to the workplace.

A unique factor to the Vyaktitva Approach was weaving in the OD angle to the entire intervention. A diagnostics aspect over the PMS was embedded in the intervention with the objective of identifying the key elements that were working well and those that could work better. Vyaktitva designed special tools and sessions in order to capture the thoughts and ideas of the participants on the PMS – thus involving them in the organizational building process. A huge amount of data was thus captured by the Vyaktitva team across the workshops. An analysis was carried out on the subjective and objective set of data along with a study of the existing PMS process and with expert inputs from senior consultants at Vyaktitva, the client was presented with recommendations that would help it achieve its objectives for the PMS better – to create a performance oriented culture in the organization as also to make PMS a work management and developmental tool.

At Vyaktitva, we have been engaged with a few corporates in helping them develop facilitation skills and techniques with the underlying behaviors. The common theme or need which had to be addressed was how people drive various types of meetings in a manner designed to meet their objectives and yet create an environment which facilitates an open and free exchange of ideas and views which then translates into action-ables which are owned by all the people in the meeting. We have helped these companies learn several tools and techniques for ensuring successful meetings be it a one to one meeting with senior leaders or driving a group meting.

The workshops covered the entire meeting process beginning with the preparation for a meeting, running the meeting and concluding or how to follow up from the meeting. We used a variety of tools and techniques such as De Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats and World Cafe and helped the participants discover the potential of these tools by using them in the workshop and then helping them put the construct for a key meeting coming up for them. The participants were also given templates which would help them put the structure and plan for meetings. During the workshop we also explored the behaviors that are required to run these meetings and how to deal with different kinds of behaviors that people may exhibit.

The purpose of the workshop was to give the participants ready and simple to use tools and tackles which can be implemented as soon as they walk out of the workshop. All the workshops have received extremely good feedback and in our follow up with the said participants a few weeks later, they were extremely enthused with their experience of having used these techniques which have helped them tremendously in their work.

A world class multinational pharmaceutical company had been struggling to adapt to the changing landscape of the Indian Pharma industry. The quantum of change, especially in the manner in which the sales force operated was humongous. The senior leadership was concerned about the organizational ability to manage this change since it required the sales force to develop new skills, change the conventional ways and develop a radically different approach to meet the market expectations. The first and second line sales managers would play a critical role in leading this change. However, their understanding of leadership role and their ability to develop their teams was a matter of serious concern.

The Approach:

When Vyaktitva was approached to help them build leadership capability, we undertook a detailed analysis which involved understanding the following –

• Business challenges and the changing context,
• Organizational culture especially the leadership role in developing people,
• Expectations of the top leadership,
• Perspective of the OD team which had been was actively involved in carrying out some important developmental initiatives
• Challenges, apprehensions of the target audience and also their understanding of their roles.

The Intervention:

Basis the findings of this in-depth analysis, we suggested a custom-made leadership journey which would not only be integrated with the ongoing OD initiatives, but would also significantly build on them. We planned to cover a population of 150 managers through 7 such journeys, each spanning 3-4 months. The journey comprised of a leadership workshop based on experiential learning and involving a live project , followed by a coaching contact to assess progress on the project and finally closure of the journey where participants would present projects which included the following –

• A Development Action Plan (DAP)for one or two team members
• Business impact
• Initiatives for self development
• Self refection to bring about an observable behavior change.

The Impact:

The impact of these journeys was measurable through the quality and success of the projects. The panel of top leadership which sat through the project presentations was extremely happy with the depth of application, insights created for each participant, observable changes in behavior and the quality and commitment to the DAPs. Many participants also reported a much improved communication and bond with their team members as well as superiors.

For Registration/more info: [t} 011-40504278/79;
Gagandeep Singh - Delhi [m] +91 9891935972

Vyakitiva is a performance support organization fosused on organizational design and training interventions.

Consultants at Vyaktitva have successfully delivered more than 15,000 hours of training with a diverse set of audience across industries. This experience has translated into paradigms, tools and methods that have been used by organizations across the country to raise the effectiveness of their learning interventions dramatically.This makes our “Big Ticket” Workshops unique.

Read more about us at www.vyaktitva.net

Vyaktitva’s open workshop on designing and delivering effective learning interventions. The workshop uses the ADDIE model and facilitates skill building for the participants through live projects. Vyaktitva’s open workshop on designing and delivering effective learning interventions.

The workshops are held in Delhi & Mumbai.

We shall soon announce the next open workshop dates. Click here to know more

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)