Satnam Singh, CMD, Power Finance Corporation

 

From the time I have taken over, I have followed an unconventional method of management. I realised that the most a company’s most important asset is its family of employees and therefore I have worked on creating a high level of motivation and zeal in them to achieve better performances and results. What I have done is to share with them my views on various things such as benchmarking, monitoring, review meetings, periodic reporting and discussions on reasons for delays. This helps them to understand my style of working and what I expect from them so that they can be in tune with the culture of our organisation.

 

We stopped benchmarking with other businesses because comparisons do not help instead at times they can create a fear about not being able to achieve the required level. Review meetings were stopped because I thought that such meetings are usually conducted by executives who are not easily approachable. Monitoring was also stopped because it implies mistrust of the person who has been entrusted to do the job. I feel monitoring or policing is required only when you don’t trust the person whom you have entrusted the job to. On the same lines, it is best not to dwell too much on the reasons for delay because they are in the past. Instead, I have introduced a reporting system for detailing daily achievements so that when an employee realises that he hasn’t achieved anything on one particular day, he will strive to do so the next day. 

 

So what are some of the practices a small size needs to adopt to get the best from their employees?

As I always say it is the employees who make a company successful or failure. If you want the best out of your employees you should do away from the following restrictive practices:

You just need a Daily Achievement Report.

According to me there are five basic tenets that every company should follow to achieve success. They are:

Kindly elaborate on each tenet.

Knowledge: To become successful one should know about his business right from the basics. We do not need to have people who have knowledge but are afraid of implementing. They are mere theoreticians. Every person has to believe in himself or herself. A person who tries to achieve a target for some time and then gives it up because it seems to be unattainable is one who has lost that belief. Progress stops when that happens.

 

People generally have a bias about what they want to or must learn. So, people tend to learn only those things that they are interested to learn. There is this fable about a person who brought a cat to his house to get rid of the rats. The rats prayed to God to turn the cat into a vegetarian. Meanwhile, the owner was given a locket of Buddha at a temple and not being of the religious sort, he tied it around the cat’s neck. When the rats saw this, they assumed that the cat had become a vegetarian. They began to step out fearlessly. Needless to say, the cat had a feast. Thus, there is a need to learn the right things and not go by assumptions.

 

Implementation of Knowledge: We should develop skills in people so that they can work out practical solutions. For example, assume that hypothetically you have given “X” to two employees of similar social and educational background. You will find that both the students have use the same “X” in different ways; they have different strategies. Real life is different. The situation “X’ will never come exactly as narrated in the hypothesis. It is all about how much you understand the situation and what kind of strategies you adopt to succeed in that situation.

 

Many people have got knowledge but they do not apply it because they are not prepared to face the consequences. They neither understand the problem nor do they want to find the solution because they are scared of being wrong and fearful of losing their job.  Everybody has knowledge but how many of us have the ability to use that knowledge is also important.

 

Another example... Why does Sachin Tendulkar need a coach? Today he is considered to be the best player in the world, but he still needs a coach. Do you think the coach knows more than Sachin? Of course. That is why he is the coach. But can he play as well as Sachin? Is he a better player? The answer is no because Sachin is very good at implementing the knowledge, of using his skill, of playing better, that is why he is the best player. So if you want to be a best performer or else a best company it is not important how much knowledge you have it is more important how you implement that knowledge. Knowledge is anyway a pre requisite but what defines you is how much ability you have to implement the knowledge you have.

 

Sense of Achievement: Every person suffers from doubts. Whenever you face a larger challenge or are assigned a big job, you start doubting whether you can complete the job or overcome the challenge. The problem is that once your mind starts thinking that you cannot do something, you will just not do it. You can deal with doubts by gaining relevant knowledge. Once you understand how to deal with the challenges, you can then set time frames and simple target levels to complete the task. Once you meet and overcome the challenges you must enjoy it as it is result of your learning process.

 

A person can post an excellent performance only when he or she is hungry enough to do so. When a person is spoilt with too many choices or options, the performance level dips.

 

Acceptance of Failure: We are great eliminators. We assume that certain things cannot be done simply by eliminating them at face value. Instead, why not give things a try before you start to doubt your own capability of doing them? Once you accept the failure you are open to reviewing your actions and thereby identifying the mistakes you made and what you should have done to make it a success.

 

Focus: If you are driving at high speed and have to turn a sharp corner beyond which is the danger of slipping over the edge, you have be totally focused. If you are distracted for it could easily lead to a mishap. Therefore, being focused on your work and targets is very essential.

 

If one can learn from nature and apply the same principles to the functioning of a company, it can become a top-ranking organisation. Take the example of a drop of water. Each drop has its own shape, size and character. But when several drops collect at a place, they form a pool of water and this could turn into a stream and thence into a river and eventually the sea. In an organisation, every individual has to work in harmony with the others and that is what creates collective strength to help a company become bigger and better. That is why we have been asking our employees for creating possibility of a better tomorrow which has become Power Finance Corporation's motto now.