When the ‘Second’ is the ‘First’: Getting the Perspectives Right

Many times in life, we are so obsessed with symptoms that we lose sight of the root cause. Also, many times we see a part as the whole. True, management thought has taught us to focus on results. True also that the industrial engineering movement, and even the famed Toyota Production System, taught us the benefits of division of work and specialization. In general, if each person does what he or she is supposed to do right, the next in sequence would occur with equal efficiency, Efficient parts, it is believed, make for an effective whole. This indeed is logical but only so long as the logic of what must override what in terms of the core purpose is not appreciated.

The issue at hand is almost like the distinction between Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of healing and Allopathy, the modern practice of medicine. The former requires a patient to be studied in whole before a disease is treated. The Ayurvedic treatments offered in India are a case in point. The latter believes that unless the disease as expressed by the symptoms is addressed quickly there could be collateral damage. Obviously, both approaches have their merits and applicability. The debate, however, makes us think through what is primary and what is secondary in the real sense and meaning of various practices we are accustomed to in life. Some interesting examples, relevant for individuals, managers, leaders and organizations alike, follow.

1.       Teaching and learning 

There is so much focus on institutes which offer quality teaching. This focus is not peculiar to India; it pervades even the advanced countries. The basic purpose, one would presume, of good teaching is good learning. One should logically look for institutes which enable good learning rather than offer good teaching. Good teaching need not necessarily translate itself into good learning. In any case, rather than assume that good teaching makes students good learners, it would be appropriate to insist on both teachers and the students to focus on learning. While assessing graduates of institutes, it is important to assess if they had assimilated learning to the standard equivalent the teaching of an institute is expected to.

2.      Qualifications and education

As with the chase for quality teaching institutes there is an equal, if not greater, craze for educational qualifications and professional certifications. Without doubt, formal qualifications are essential means of ensuring that one goes through a prescribed process of education and evaluation. However, education can take place independent of qualifications, and all qualifications may not result in the same level of education. The challenge is greater when people acquire diverse qualifications. Whether one qualification de-educates one of the previous qualification or builds on the foundations is a key aspect. While assessing individuals with or without qualifications, it is important to assess the true level of education he or she would have got.   

3.      Assimilation and application

The main purpose of teaching and learning is to assimilate all knowledge within oneself. As modern research indicates human brain is an amazing library and storehouse of whatever information is deposited into it. Contrary to popular belief, the brain has the ability to absorb an endless array of information. Unlike a physical library, even if information is taken out from the brain it remains in the memory; in fact, it gets expanded with the way the retracted information is processed and acted upon. Assimilation is purposeless without application, just as teaching is purposeless without learning. Application of knowledge is the one that differentiates active achievers from passive followers. It is also interesting that it is the greater application of knowledge rather than just greater teaching or learning that results in greater assimilation of knowledge.  

4.      Hearing and listening

Hearing is the electro-mechanical process of receiving external sounds through the ears, whether from nature or humans. Every sound has its purpose and meaning, more so the speech of humans. In fact, the productivity of human relationships is based entirely on communication. Communication is complete only when the message is listened to, rather than merely heard. Listening, as contrasted with hearing, is the process of paying attention with a view to hear and/or hearing with an intention to take notice. Listening, therefore, is purposeful hearing. Hearing without listening does not contribute to human bonding.

   

5.      Managing and leading

Managing is the process of running a business. Leading is the process of taking a business to a new horizon. From a time not so long ago when management was considered all-encompassing we are now in a stage when managing is considered separate from (and unfortunately, somewhat inferior to) leading. Also, it is considered that management is a task of lower hierarchy and leadership is one of higher hierarchy. This un-discerning differentiation is misconceived. Leading is the sole purpose of management. A manager who cannot be a leader cannot be a true manager. The process of running a business perforce has to also lead the business to consistently better results.

6.      Facts and truths

Facts are real incidents that have occurred but truth is what they represent. The fact of one studying for long hours does not necessarily represent the truth or untruth of studying with concentration. Facts are visible and can be recounted with accuracy. Truth is invisible and can be only inferred or evaluated when disclosed. All truth is not factually discoverable while all facts may not disclose the entire truth. The dilemma in active and speedy life is to whether to progress on facts as received or get stalled in a potentially endless search for truth.

7.      Self-reliant and self-sufficient

India, since its independence days, has pursued a policy of self-reliance. This has prompted the governments to build dams and set up heavy industries as well as consumer goods industries. Self-reliance is the ability to develop its infrastructure. This has not been, however, accompanied by an ability to be self-sufficient in terms of technologies, equipment, finances or manufacturing capacities. Self-reliance without self-sufficiency is of little use as it would still leave vast sections of population unattended in terms of its needs. There can be no greater formula for economic growth and social equity than achieving self-sufficiency with self-reliance.

8.      Self-image and self-worth

All successful persons have an image of themselves. Their self-image prompts them to face the world and lead their teams with confidence. In a sense, self-image is in itself a success enabler (as long as it does not lead to narcissism!). Yet, such self-image tends to be the preserve of only the exclusive few. On the other hand, every person can, and must, have self-worth. Whatever be the avocation one is in, or the activity one chooses to do, one must take pride in executing it to the fullest capability. This leads to a strong sense of self-worth. Self-image that is backed by self-worth is a sustainable alchemy, not only for the individual but also for the broader organization.

9.      Empowering and enabling

Leadership (and management) is no longer about just controlling and co-ordinating. It is more about inspiring and influencing. Frequently used in that context is ‘empowerment’ as a concept. It is felt that leaders and managers should empower their team members to be able to accomplish the goals on their own. Empowerment is provision of more authority on one’s life and conduct. More than this oft used cliché, the real requirement for leaders and managers is to enable their team members to set and accomplish their own goals. ‘Enabling’ is making it possible for someone to achieve something by creating certain necessary conditions; this could include, among others, empowerment too. Enabling clearly is a more appropriate concept than just empowerment.  

10.  Title and stature

A key feature of social evolution, over centuries, has been the emergence of titles. Titles signify rank in a profession or in a society. Titles have such compelling attraction that everyone seeks them. Titles by definition tend to be for few. In comparison, stature is the importance and respect that a person has because of his or her ability and achievement. While titles can be had only by a few (and ironically, bestowed at times independent of stature), stature can be gained by all independent of their hierarchy through sheer dint of achievements and accomplishments. Virtuous individuals and organizations aspire to acquire stature rather than seek ranks.  

When ‘second’ is ‘first’

Many times, in the pursuit of visible results or even the activities, the central purpose gets lost in visibility. The preoccupation with the results and activities makes one equate the very act or the result (like teaching or qualification) to be the same as the underlying purpose (like learning or education), respectively. This makes achievements rather mechanical, sub-optimizing capabilities and creativity. The organizational designs, including structures and processes, as well as individual and social systems (including values and ethics) must focus on the underlying core purpose.

Oftentimes, playing a sport or participating in a competition is considered more important than winning the competition. Similarly putting in the best effort without aspiring for a result is considered philosophically appropriate. The spirit is considered more relevant than success, and the effort more relevant than result. That said, if in the ten aspects of life that have been discussed above, the primary driver of progress is recognized and followed, spirit will soar high as much as success will sustain for sure. The seemingly ‘second’ is the ‘first’ in most cases of life!

Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 18, 2015                 

Thought, Expression and Action (TEA) Positive: Triggers and Filters in One’s Mind

Thoughts, it is said, are irrepressible. Expressions and actions, it is said, are controllable. There can be no expression or action without thought. Even in involuntary actions, some system or the other of the body “thinks”.  The world expects all expressions and actions to be well thought out. A spiritual guru said that a blow from one person to another person can heal with time but an abuse or indictment from one to another would never heal with time. That is the power of the word, he said.  The physiological and neurological basis of thoughts and speech is a complex field of study. It is rational and evidence based; it can be studied with behavioural observations of a person or scanning of the person’s brain. That said, every thought-expression-action linkage is neither spontaneous nor unpredictable; it is actually conditioned – by one’s own learnings and experiences as well as expectations.

Societies which are naturally evolved but fractious human agglomerations, and organizations which are synthetically created but focused employee teams require conditioned behaviour in terms of thoughts, expressions and actions. Without conditioned behaviour societies and organizations could be at risk of disruption, if not chaos. However, completely conditioned behaviour robs the societies and organizations of the principal benefit of human existence – creativity and innovation. The need for balance between spontaneity (hence of creativity and innovation) and moderation (hence of order and discipline) is genuine for societies and organizations but quite difficult to achieve. Individuals, as they mature and develop the abilities of reflection and introspection, can help promote positive conditioned behaviour.

Cluttering, de-cluttering

Human beings are processors of abundant information. Even when they are not in conversation with fellow beings, their ecosystems tend to be in conversation with them. These conversations, whether active or passive, shape the thoughts of the individuals. These thoughts, as they bubble up, set in motion a complex chain of feedback mechanisms. Left uncontrolled, a person’s mind could become an uncontrolled cauldron of thoughts. Mercifully, a few things help control the phenomenon. Firstly, a person’s innate ability to moderate the thought processes helps. Secondly, a preference for positive thoughts results in a helpful cycle of positive expressions, positive feedback, positive actions and positive recognitions. Thirdly, as a person moves from thought and expression phase to action phase, he or she becomes focused and goal directed. For example, a person in search of an accommodation to buy would be subject to multiple thoughts in the exploration phase but becomes focused on house construction once he narrows down the choice to an acquisition.

There are three other important means to de-clutter oneself of the unending assault of thoughts. One is the daily natural phenomenon of sleep. Modern research has re-established the age old philosophy that a healthy period of daily sleep is the best means for rejuvenation of the body and the mind. The second is the discipline of daily exercise which brings focus and endurance to the body and the mind. The third is the ancient practice of yoga and meditation which helps one to become calm and relaxed as well as focused and attentive.  The Art of Living Foundation lists several benefits of meditation (http://www.artofliving.org/meditation/meditation-for-you/benefits-of-meditation). The Foundation observes that meditation is like a seed which when cultivated with care blossoms to the general wellbeing of a person. Despite the availability of such compelling evidence, people are unable to implement the moderation, focus and execution trilogy at the professional level and the sleep, exercise and meditation trilogy of the personal life.

Starting early

The new NDA government despite its preoccupation with economic reforms and acceleration of economic growth has focused on some important softer aspects of life that need to be imbibed from the early childhood stage. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised students taking the Class X and Class XII Board examinations in March this year that they should learn to develop faith in oneself as Swami Vivekanda exhorted decades ago, and take the examinations as a game to play and also learn to relax. He has advised students to learn Pranayama or practise Surya Namaskar to reduce stress. In a proud moment for India, the United Nations has on December 10, 2014 adopted June 21 as World Yoga Day after Narendra Modi made an impassioned plea in the UN General Assembly for Yoga in September 2014. It is to be hoped that such guidance and measures would influence the new generation to stay positive from the early years.

Like the half empty or half full analogy of a glass, it is never too late or too early to start anything positive. There is so much material and expertise that is available in the public domain on sleep-exercise-meditation aspects that it would be highly inappropriate and inadequate to discuss them in this blog post. There is, however, less attention and material on the moderation-focus-execution trilogy that is needed in professional life. Within this trilogy again, there is enough literature on driving focus and execution but very little thought on achieving positive moderation in thoughts, expression and actions. As a result, organizations and societies are focused on conflict management as a discipline of learning and development. A far better route would be to root out the triggers and precursors for conflicts in the thought processes themselves.

Triggers

Achievements, disappointments, targets, goals, teachings, exhortations, criticisms, observations, advices, and a host of other events relating to oneself or others in the society act as triggers for thoughts. The thoughts could vary across a wide spectrum, from mere noting and registering them in memory or shutting them out of active memory to feelings of joy or sadness, motivation or inspiration, security or helplessness, introversion or extroversion, and so on. These, in turn, make individuals to stay satisfied (with the status quo) or become dissatisfied (to change the status quo). The stronger the feelings, the greater would be the triggers. The triggers lead to expressions of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and later on to situations of inaction or action. The intermediate stage of expression between thought and action is important because it provides an opportunity to provide or receive feedback, and thus correct or get corrected.

The intermediate stage of expression is also important because it helps in either dissipation of excessive (often negative) energy or reinforcement for needed (often positive) energy. In certain cases, when the triggers are particularly strong, individuals tend to jump from thought to action directly without going through the very important stage of expression, often leading to undesirable results. While keeping one’s own inner counsel does happen, and is also important and appropriate in certain cases, in most situations expression of core thoughts and intended response would go a long way in improving the end results. Needless to add, actions would certainly lead to certain results, which in turn lead to the next cycle of triggers. In order for one’s life to be in a manageable boundary, the triggers for thoughts and the consequent expressions and actions need to be purposeful.

Filters

As one grows up, the brain or mind starts developing its own filters that are set in place in a rather firm manner with maturity. Typically, an individual consciously or unconsciously passes his or her thoughts, expressions and actions (TEAs) through these filters. While the triggers add velocity and momentum to one’s TEAs, the filters help one to separate the positive ones (or those agreeable to one’s personality) from the negative ones (or those disagreeable to one’s personality). These filters start the processes of reflection, introspection, evaluation and selection as the TEAs pass through them. In an ideal situation, only those thoughts that pass through all the filters become expressions and those expressions that pass through all the filters become actions. Developing the right kind of filters and keeping them effective (and unclogged) is certainly in one’s capability, and helps one in staying TEA positive.

The typical filters one has in one’s mind are the following. The primary one is the emotional filter (will the TEA make me happy or sad, satisfied or dissatisfied and motivated or demotivated?). The second is the social filter, social including the family, friends, peers and the broader society where relevant (will the TEA gain me acceptance or rejection, recognition or castigation?). The third is the value filter (does the TEA fit into my value system or not?). Only those TEAs that pass through all the three filters make one truly happy. The sequence given above tends to be applicable for a great majority of individuals. For sage and wise individuals, the sequence would probably be in the reverse order; the value filter first followed by the social filter and then the emotional filter. While a few other filters like development filter or growth filter can be considered, the author feels that they are ultimately expressed in terms of emotions. Likewise, while the social filter can be separated into family filter and other filters it only adds needless complexity.    

 TEA positive

Staying TEA positive is a worthwhile goal in life. Ability to entertain only positive or agreeable thoughts and ability to de-clutter one’s mind are the fundamental capabilities which help one in the process. The more important aspect is setting the right filters in one’s mind. The filters are chosen right and set right depending on one’s knowledge of the broader good as may be taught by scriptures, texts, teachers, friends and families. The social and value filters, in particular, help one reach alignment and congruence between what is positive and what is agreeable.

Staying TEA positive is an organizational possibility and requirement too. From choosing a business to operate in to generating and sharing wealth with stakeholders to fulfilling corporate social responsibility, organizations and corporations have multiple ways to become and stay TEA positive. Organizations, which promote a TEA positive culture in their team members would become virtuous organizations. Societies and nations which create ecosystems that help individuals and organizations become TEA positive would become virtuous nations.  

Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 15, 2015    

Twin Track Travel in Life: Aligned Harmony or Oscillating Freeze?

Choice is a wonderful and important thing in life. Classical economic theory brought out the many imperfections of lack of choice through its analysis on monopoly. Governments, societies and individuals believe that choice and competition are in the best interests of consumer. In the ordinary course of life, an individual is beset with choices. One has to open an Education page of any Indian newspaper to see how the students are wooed by multiple options in education, from specializations to countries. Even a simple thing as dining in restaurant is not easy given the multiple individual and combo options that are made available. On a serious note, however, the individual has a right to, and responsibility in, making prudent choices so that the individual and those dependent on the individual benefit from the choice made.

My earlier blog post (Strategy Musings, February 28, 2015) titled “Deliberation, Information, Decisiveness and Implementation (DIDI) Model: A Logical Pathway to Progress in Multi-Option Life” (http://cbrao2008.blogspot.in/2015/02/deliberationinformation-decisiveness.html) articulated a model to progress in life. It suggested that individuals need to understand the true meaning and the essential relevance of deliberation, information, decisiveness and implementation as the four components of an accelerated journey of progress in life.  The post also observed that despite the logic of such an approach requiring high deliberation based on quality information and quick decision making followed up by quick implementation, even intellectually capable people tend to vacillate or freeze in life because of digressions they encounter in their paths of progress.   

Choice or chance?

In today’s world where information is overwhelming, and either certification or branding is common, there is apparently scope for perfect (or near perfect) choice. This need not necessarily be true. On may choose a good educational institution for study but the class to which one may be assigned could be random while the quality of teachers and friends could be even more random, with positive or negative results relative to others. One may choose an international travel plan with thorough research on the likely weather conditions but it could be beyond one’s choice as to whether an airlines management would or would not cancel flights for a particular level of storm. In life, choice and chance arguably play unpredictable roles, influencing the journey on path of progress.

Many times, a chance occurrence can cause dramatic transformations in the life of an individual or even nations. Nothing illustrates this better than the treatment meted out to M K Gandhi in rail travel at Pietermaritzburg station, South Africa on June 7, 1893 that transformed Gandhi’s life goal and eventually changed the course of history for India. In our lives, we do meet persons or pass through institutions that offer game changing opportunities. In some cases, well laid plans including established career options turn out to be adversarial. Chance in all such cases has to be coupled with choice to be able to overcome the adversity or utilize the opportunity provided by chance. When chance is met with by choice, the individual has to be resolute and diligent to embark on the new path with determination.

One step but long track

In several cases, the step one takes at the junction-in-time of chance and choice tends to have far reaching consequences. What appears to be one small step would roll out to become a long track. Perseverance and patience are the key; even if the track turns out to be different from what one envisaged, it would make sense to wait for the next time-junction of chance and choice rather than make hasty changes. In life, the same goal can be reached in multiple ways, and the fact of being compromised on a route that is not entirely of one’s choice need not deter one from switching tracks at a more appropriate time. Well thought out or opportunistic switches from one career to the other, or between work and education help one reach the desired goals, despite false starts. 

Equally, not being patient and persevering could make people lose whatever value that is inherent in a path. Traders in commodities and stocks who are impatient tend to end up losing the corpus let alone making money. Yet, sophisticated algorithms and predictive tools provide a false sense of security for shorting the future. Emotional stability and contextual equanimity are two oars one has in navigating the choppy waters of progress. This requires that being reflective and introspective as well as being thoughtful and mindful is essential whether or not one is on a preferred track. Action or implementation is physical and tangible while thinking or deliberation is virtual and fleeting.

The tracks

An individual has two important tracks to move on; the first is the implementation track which is real, physical and tangible, whether one likes it or not. The other is the deliberation track that is virtual, mental and emotional, whether one desires it or not. As considered in the earlier blog, deliberation track makes one get on to the implementation track. However, the deliberation track keeps on working even when one is on the implementation track. It is up to the competency and maturity of the individual to use the deliberation track to the advantage of the implementation track. The deliberation track has to constantly evaluate if the implementation track is taking the individual closer to the goal or a momentum change within the track or even a track change is required, and if so the appropriate timing in each case.

Mahatma Gandhi said “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” He also said, “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes”. Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. These quotes by the greatest of leaders in humanity and science respectively teach us that the power of positive thought can help one achieve one’s life goals; probably even set the goals right. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that one gains mastery over the internal and intrinsic deliberation track. Whether one accomplishes that through the practice of meditation and concentration or continuous self-correction is something for the individual to mull over and follow.

Twin tracks

The above leads us to conclude that in the best way forward, the deliberation track is in harmony with the implementation track either acting as the way forwarder or course corrector. However, the deliberation track can be inhibitory, digressive, and sometimes even regressive. Consumer psychology is full of anecdotes wherein wayward consumer thought processes make for randomly repetitive purchasing behaviour of consumers. After a dish is ordered in the restaurant, the one ordered on the other table looks interesting. After a Samsung Galaxy is bought, Apple iPhone beckons for the next purchase. After one flight route is booked, another may look to be safer and surer. Deliberative waywardness may cause only minor dislocation in matters like these but could cause untold harm in more serious matters of life like education, career and family.

Dilemmas are not new to human life. Wanting to have everything is also a part of human life. The classic expression of “to be or not to be” by Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet leads the pack on dilemmas. The human being desires to have the best of everything, at times illogically and at times greedily. The idioms “running with the hare and hunting with the hound” and “having the cake and eating it too” are strikingly descriptive of this innate characteristic of a human being. The culture of human evolution and the challenge of progress, however, require that the human being prioritizes what he wants and work towards achieving it. The ability to appreciate choice and chance on one hand and deliberation and decisiveness on the other hand is an essential part of the practice of human progress. 

  

Interfaces

There are four ways the twin tracks of thought and action can interface. These are Aligned Harmony, Delayed Delivery, Random Digression, and Oscillating Freeze.

The most effective one obviously is Aligned Harmony in which thought and action are harmoniously aligned to the goal. Some of the best inspirational missions of individuals like Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement or Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid movement and technological missions of organizations, be it NASA Man on the Moon Mission or ISRO’s Mangalyaan Mission (India’s Mars Orbiter Mission) are accomplished under the Aligned Harmony format. This corresponds with a high deliberation-quick decision format.

Delayed Delivery is beset by nagging doubts on whether the route pursued is the right one but at the same time is handicapped by lack of alternatives. This erodes confidence and commitment in the route pursued. This corresponds with low deliberation-slow decision format.  Lack of deliberation and consequent facile decision making lead to tardy progress without commitment or belief.

Random Digression occurs when an uncontrolled deliberation track derails the individual to switch on to disruptively alternative action tracks. A researcher constantly in search of alternative hypotheses or research methodologies even while progressing on one hypothesis is subject to random digression. Achievement of goals can be highly sub-optimal for such individuals, relative to time and effort spent. This corresponds with high deliberation-slow decision syndrome.

And finally, Oscillating Freeze occurs when an individual (or organization) iterates himself (or itself) before accomplishing even the first milestone in each case. In this case, even as action track moves forward the thought track moves backwards. A student who does engineering course wishing all the time that he should have done medicine or a professional who has chosen a particular job wishing all the time that he should have joined the other firm. Such people freeze in their tracks every now and then as their heart and soul are not in what they are deployed on.

Individuals as well as organizations who appreciate and achieve aligned harmony between thought (or deliberation) and action (or decisiveness) understand the eclectic fusion of chance and choice in life, and the interdependence of thought and action, and therefore are made for sustainable success in a complex and confusing multi-option world.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 1, 2015          

     

Deliberation, Information, Decisiveness and Implementation (DIDI) Model: A Logical Pathway to Progress in Multi-Option Life

Progress is the essence of life. Everyone, from the time of development of cognitive abilities, embarks upon, knowingly or unknowingly, on a journey of progress. Not many, however developed they are on cognitive scales, realize certain fundamentals of progress. These are: a clear destination, a clear path, a focused execution, and the next progress journey once the destination is reached, all within a clear understanding of the competencies and resources required. Not many also develop these guideposts by themselves with introspection, reflection and ownership; they are subject to myriad influences from families, friends, institutions and societies. To cap it all, very few have the philosophical approach to appreciate progress and take in stride regress. No wonder then that a feeling of having failed to progress as much as one should have is universal; only the shades vary across the rich and poor.

Ironically, the distress about lack or inadequacy of progress seems to increase with increasing prosperity while blind acceptance of status quo seems to deepen with increasing poverty. These and various other related socio-economic and socio-philosophic considerations are extremely complex, and do not easily lend themselves to one macro-analysis or a simple macro-solution. What can, however, be considered is why individuals in their own spaces of competencies and aspirations struggle with issues of progress and satisfaction. It is intriguing as to why factors as simple as destination, path and execution should defy clear mastery by even with people high level of intellectual capability. The reasons are fairly simple; the human brain is continuously subject to triggers of speedup and slowdown which continuously make individuals accelerate or vacillate, in their journeys of progress in a life setting that is becoming increasingly multi-optioned.

Accelerators and vacillators

A progressive life has its own momentum. It is marked by change with its own velocity and periodic acceleration. The accelerators are partly wired in one’s personality (for example, get rich quickly, climb up social ladder fast, win laurels, take risks to accelerate, and so on) but also require environmental triggers (for example, a new start-up culture, a new savings and investment ecosystem, more attractive financial instruments, an aggressive family environment, and so on). When these factors, part internal and part external, combine for an individual, the destination, path and progress tend to be clear. Doubtless, there would be speed breakers on the way but the accelerators have their inbuilt momentum to cruise along. The downside would stem occasionally from their adventurous nature, failing to distinguish between speed breakers that are mere cautions and those that are precursors to dead-end points.

Vacillation is the threat to acceleration in the journey of life. Vacillation is a result of confusion or lack of clarity in one’s mind. Vacillation as much as steadfastness, and confusion as much as clarity are normal human tendencies because of the way each individual is wired in terms of one’s personality (for example, risk-averse, self-satisfied, and so on) and the way external environment tends to project short term disappointments as long term distress (for example, volatility in commodity prices, job market trends, and so on). When these internal and external factors combine for an individual, the destination and path would appear to be hazy and progress tardy. Doubtless, there would be compelling pressures to gain traction on account of socio-economic benchmarks but the inherent trend of vacillators would be to procrastinate rather than decide. In fact, the matrix of deliberation and decisiveness can be utilized by accelerators and vacillators alike to overcome their inherent weaknesses, and reinforce their strengths.

Deliberation and decisiveness

Individuals tend to be scaled on the two dimensions of deliberation and decisiveness. These two dimensions are commonly seen to be inherently contra to each other. An individual who is least deliberative may tend to be quickly decisive while an individual who is extremely deliberative may tend to be least decisive. This is a simplistic view. Individuals tend to be on a scale of low to high on deliberation as well as on decisiveness. And, not in all cases there would be any correlation, positive or inverse, between the two variables. Individuals must carefully develop themselves on the deliberation-decisiveness matrix. There would be four groups of individuals; (i) low deliberators-quick deciders, (ii) high deliberators-slow deciders, (iii) low deliberators-slow deciders, and (iv) high deliberators-quick deciders. Clearly, presence in the group (iv) is something to be aimed at.

While lack of deliberation is not healthy, excessive deliberation without quick decision making is counterproductive. While being a slow decider is not a virtue if the slowness is due to high deliberations it is probably next to the best. Obviously, being a low deliberator and quick decider would lead to unhealthy choices. Being a low deliberator and slow decider is also a sure recipe to a skewed and frozen life. Being high on deliberations and simultaneously being quickly decisive gets the best of both the worlds to the individual. Individuals belonging to this group possess and develop a high level of information processing capability. However, the deliberation-decisiveness matrix needs to be further cascaded in terms of linkage between information and deliberation on one hand and decisiveness and implementation on the other.  Here again, a matrix approach provides clarity to individuals.

Information and implementation

Deliberation can only be based on information. In today’s Internet world there is no paucity of information; in fact, one is overwhelmed by data and information. However, the greater the availability of quality information the greater the possibility of quality deliberation. Even then there is no assured linkage. We can have (i) low deliberators-low information (this probably is a hapless group!), (ii) low deliberators-high information (this group is handicapped by low information processing capability), (iii) high deliberators-low information (this group specializes in procrastination), and (iv) high deliberators-high information (this group makes for quality analysis and decision making choices). While information is the core of deliberation, deliberation is the proper precursor to decision making. Decision making, of course, is futile without implementation.

Decisiveness gets reinforced with implementation capability (often termed execution in management language). There is no automatic connection between quick decision making and speedy implementation. The former is largely an individual phenomenon requiring an ability to analyse self and environment while the latter is a leadership capability requiring an ability to understand, lead and manage others. Here again, a matrix approach would be helpful. We can have (i) slow deciders-slow implementers, (ii) quick deciders-slow implementers, (iii) slow deciders-quick implementers, and (iv) quick deciders-quick implementers. The first group clearly is the non-starter group in today’s competitive world while the second group, though blessed with quick start, is a losing proposition. The third group makes up for procrastinated decision making with quick implementation while the fourth group is the truly competitive group excelling in both decisiveness and implementation.

Pathway to progress

The above discussion leads us to the conclusion that one should be a member of three conceptual groups to make meaningful progress. Fundamentally, one should be a high deliberator and quick decider. This enables higher quality of decision with a faster go-to-market possibility. High deliberation, however, should stem from a capability to process high amount of information. Quick decision making, likewise, should be followed through and reinforced by an ability to quickly implement. As compared to this virtuous grouping of three, there tend to be nine other groupings which are sub-optimal or even counterproductive. The odds of placing oneself, naturally or effortlessly, in the superior grouping are statistically adverse, which requires that individuals need to understand the true meaning and the essential relevance of deliberation, information, decisiveness and implementation as the four components of an accelerated journey of progress in life.

Interestingly, decision making happens only periodically and implementation follows with a specific time horizon (not to be whimsically changed). This applies equally to a student’s educational path or a businessman’s industrial path. However, flow of information and, therefore, the triggers for deliberation occur rather continuously for any individual in any play of life. It is important to keep the deliberation process on but manage it such that it does not confuse a person and make the path of progress a meandering one. For those who manage this balance in the DIDI Model on an ongoing basis success comes naturally and logically. It is, however, amazing to see how even intellectually capable people get thwarted on their paths of progress. There could be an explanation of that too. Those who are mindful and thoughtful of the digressions could still be successful. That could be the subject of another blog post!  

Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 1, 2015

       

   

  

Big Five Personality Traits and Employee Behaviour: The OCEAN of Challenge in Organizational Development

“We value our people” is the almost universal averment of all progressive corporations. To give benefit of doubt, corporations and the leaders who espouse this corporate value are sincere to the statement. In day to day recruitment, performance management and talent development, however, there tends to be an in incredible emphasis on recruiting good candidates, rewarding good performance and helping employees become better, respectively. A number of behavioural tools are adopted to enable individuals better understand themselves and contribute to their improved individual performance and logically therefore better corporate performance. Firms also go to significant lengths to define the desirable characteristics in the context of the business the firms operate in. Over the years, the concept of team as being the overarching concept took root but the emphasis on individual has not faded, rightly so. 

Over the years, businesses have become more complex with competition for scarce resources and yearning for extraordinary growth. Businesses have also become more globally networked with pressures for multi-cultural outlook and compulsions for global competitiveness. The traits one looks for success in, and through, individuals have become a legion making one wonder whether organizations have started looking for super-humans as managers and leaders, if not as employees. There is, of course, the other view that if the company has clearly articulated goals, robust strategies and plans to work to, and a relentless focus on execution, all with clearly defined structures and processes, individuals as well as teams would deliver. Several models are popularized to drive team and individual performance at a firm level. This blog post proposes that all of these expectations and models work only if the Big Five personality traits are recognized and encouraged at the firm level.

Exciting diversity

Prior to delving into the subject further, it is apt to appreciate that life is actually made more interesting by the variability in human behaviour. If everyone were to think and act exactly like each other, life would be robotic. As we cruise through our schools, colleges and organizations, we are able to perceive, see, feel and appreciate substantial differences among our friends and colleagues. Such variability introduces a rich diversity of culture and lifestyle into a society. A principal reason why a foreign national, or even an Indian, gets both flummoxed and excited about India is the rich cultural tapestry across the States and the varied behavioural nuances amongst the individuals of different regions. It is sobering to think that no amount of education or indoctrination can morph the behavioural approaches of varied population. This, for example, is as natural as a Japanese not thinking or acting like an American, and vice versa. Yet, successful business gets done between culturally differentiated nations.   

That said, when organizations are established with specific objectives of focused performance for shared goals, it is necessary that inter-individual differences are kept within certain tolerance levels, much like a product characteristic is measured and reviewed in statistical quality control. Also, the behavioural volatility within an individual must operate within an acceptable amplitude for organizations to work in a harmonious yet exciting manner. All the theories of management, despite their elegant constructs, do not provide an authentic basis for understanding why employees behave as they do. An understanding of the structural basis of inter-individual and within individual differences in human behaviour and cognition would be necessary. Such an understanding would help organizations and leaders neither dismiss such differences as ‘noise’ nor accept them as ‘destiny’.

Neuroscience

In scientific circles, neuroscience has emerged as an important branch of study which can help identify variability in perception, thought and action between individuals and within individuals. Methods that provide measures of brain’s neural activity (such as functional MRI or fMRI, electroencephalography or EEG, positron emission topography or PET and magnetic resonance spectroscopy or MRS and diffusion tensor imaging or DTI) have been used to study the neural bases of individual differences in cognition. Journals dedicated to neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry routinely carry several scholarly and research based articles on how such methods can identify the structural basis for inter-individual differences. For example, one of the critical parameters of leadership is decision making capability. In decision making, fast decisions in most cases come at the risk of reduced accuracy. This phenomenon of speed-accuracy trade-off as well as the switch between cautious and risky behaviours have been studied in neuroscience wth fMRA studies of certain brain circuitry.

Neuroscience offers explanations why certain individuals would have more specialized skills than others. It even explains why grey matter in a physiological sense is important (rather than joked about) for determining various cognitive capabilities of different individuals. While neuroscience may offer great clues to explaining human behaviour patterns it is unlikely to be of any real time help to corporate leaders in understanding and managing individual and organizational behaviour. MRI scans cannot obviously be the recruitment filters; nor can MRIs be installed to select members for collaborative or competitive team formations. Just as psychological assessments of human behaviour have their limitations in assessing managerial potential even the more diagnostic neuroscience studies can help select employees who could possess the desired cognitive capabilities. That said, neuroscience studies may throw light on the personality and intelligent traits that could be of relevance in specific organizational contexts.

OCEAN of Big Five

While there exist over 100 personality traits in management literature, the Big Five Theory of human psychology hypothesizes that five core traits make up human personality. These five traits are used by psychologists to describe the fundamental dimensions of personality traits. These comprise four positive traits and one potentially negative trait. The four positive traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Agreeableness while the negative trait is Neuroticism (together referred by the acronym OCEAN). Research has shown that each of the traits correlates with certain anatomical dispositions of different regions of the brain. Psychometric questionnaire inventory seeks to quantify the level of each of the fundamental dimensions and more recent research is attempting to establish a correlation between results of questionnaires and results of brain imaging studies. While the research is welcome, the enormity of task in relation to multitudes of international cultures and billions of individuals makes it a practical impossibility if universal applicability is desired. Rather, it behoves organizational experts to define them in organizational context, and help employees appreciate their traits in terms of individual amplitude and inter-individual variability with a view to harmonize for individual and organizational effectiveness.

Extraversion (or extroversion) is the trait of being lively and confident and possessing the quality of enjoying being with other people. It is characterized by sociability and talkativeness as well as assertiveness and excitability. Extroversion is seen as a key leadership enabler. Conscientiousness is the quality of taking care to be able to do things carefully and correctly. It reflects dutifulness and self-discipline. Openness is the quality of being honest and not hiding information or feelings. It is also about the quality of being able to listen to, think about and accept other people and other ideas. Agreeableness is the quality of being pleasant and easy to like. It reflects a tendency to be empathetic and cooperative. Neuroticism is a core trait with shades of negativity like being worried and being prone to experience and express unpleasant emotions easily (like anger, anxiety, depression and vulnerability). If an employee needs to be successful the positive four traits of emotional stability and affinity must be strongly displayed and the negative trait of emotional instability must be minimized.

Big Five Challenge

The challenge of maintaining a beneficial balance between the positive four and the negative one traits is that the life is so stressful and competitive that constantly the positive traits are suppressed and the negative trait stoked by people, events and processes. As the rewards and recognition systems in organizations are governed, by and large, by the final outcomes with little to differentiate on which traits worked for the winners, the tendency is to adopt personality traits that provide winning outcomes. With the proliferation of ‘trait theories’ there is also a greater emphasis on visible and surrogate traits rather than the fundamental traits. It is important that conscious and persistent efforts are made by individuals and their stakeholders (be they parents, friends or teachers) to instill (or enable the ability to enhance) the positive traits and minimize (or instill the ability to moderate) the negative trait. As one’s consciousness increases with age and education, focus should be laid on the importance of the Big Five traits.

The biological origins of the basic personality traits cannot be ignored. Research has shown how the grey matter in various segments of the brain correlates with the level of each of the five fundamental traits. This, however, is a biological reality for an individual. What one can do, however, is to be cognizant of the traits and work on them. Literature suggests several methodologies to do that. Observation and introspection are the universally applicable methods that are simple yet effective. These, however, require some of the basic traits themselves. For example, without being open one cannot introspect. Without being extravert, one may not have the people group to observe at all. If one is not agreeable as a person, one may not receive feedback at all. By the same token, if one is neurotic, one would miss the perspectives of objectivity and analysis. The importance of constantly working on the five core traits in life’s progression is self-evident.

Ancient Indian science

To circle back to where we started, organizations do value people. However, it is to be understood that people are valued, in a true sense, for the positive traits they display and stand for. All outstanding leaders are epitomes of positive traits (besides, of course, technical, scientific or professional competencies that are called for). While an individual is, by and large, responsible for his or her own development, organizations can gain a lot by creating ecosystems that promote positive traits in employees. What the typical organization seeks by way of competitiveness can be achieved only when it has employees who are open, conscientious, extraverted and agreeable and non-neurotic. This blog post demonstrates that rather than get diffused over multiple traits, it would be sensible for individuals and organizations to focus on these five core traits to reflect upon and develop. 

     

While modern science has provided imaging and neuroscience as two potent aids to understand individual traits and intra as well as inter individual differences in traits, they are still confined to research domain; they are also too expensive and too impractical to be of use on a routine basis. Fortunately, ancient Indian science has provided a much simpler and more universally deployable methodology to develop one’s traits positively. Yoga and meditation are established to be of help in shaping the Big Five traits with positive bias. Enlightened organizations have, therefore, started giving importance to yoga and meditation. The recent Gyan Sangam, the high level two day meet of India’s top bankers in Pune, was flagged off with a session on yoga and a leadership lecture by Swami Sukhabodhananda who is well known for his coaching on value based leadership. This initiative may be symbolic but is a powerful one at that!

Posted by Dr CB Rao on January 10, 2015            

   

   

Coincidence, Connectivity and Correlation: The 3C’s of Perceptive Observation and Research

The other day, a very striking research finding that turned conventional wisdom and generational practice upside down was published widely (http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/high-milk-intake-tied-to-increased-mortality-risk/article6544831.ece). It said that those who drink more than three glasses of milk (700 ml), instead of facing a lower risk of fractures as believed hitherto, faced instead a risk of higher mortality. This, obviously, is counter to the received wisdom that it is beneficial to drink more milk as it leads to greater calcium intake and thus leads to healthy bones, apart from it being a wholesome food for general human development. The study was carried out by the reputed Uppsala University of Sweden and covered 61,000 women and 45,000 men of certain age groups for more than 20 years. This study caps a series of such studies which question the past precautions, biases and beliefs on a variety of subjects, ranging from eggs and coconuts to salt and cocoa (one such study is that intake of certain types of fat is good for brain health!).

At the end of the milk research summary, however, there was a caveat that the study pointed to an association rather than a link. It suggested more investigations to conclude on the topic. This caveat is not surprising given the diversified nature of human genetics, the multi-factorial nature of human aging and disease affliction. Identification of the core ingredients of prophylactic and therapeutic potency as well as side effects and adverse effects of natural or synthetic ingredients is wrought with great complexity. Potentially, these research journeys would continue, leading one day to more conclusive and more validated hypotheses on what causes what. While the complexities of understanding these bio-chemical challenges at molecular level are understandable, it is intriguing that apparently simpler and more visible aspects of human relationships should threaten the stability of, and cause volatility in, human relationships at family, organizational, social and national levels. This blog post presents certain models of researching and understanding human behaviour as a way of development.    

Individuality and conformity

The evolution of one’s personality over the years is the result of continuous interplay of one’s quest for individuality and the individual’s ecosystem’s norm for conformity. The ecosystem could variously be the family (pre-marriage and post-marriage), the school and college, the organization and the society. At every point of time, the individual is simultaneously advised to be expressive and empowered as well as conformist and compliant. While absorbing this indoctrination, the individual also constantly observes the players and role models he or she encounters in the various ecosystems. The observed behaviours are much like the various items of food that one ingests for biological development; they are the complex ingredients of food for emotional health. Much like the example of milk above, the behavioural inputs that are embedded as features of ecosystems are akin to  inner ingredients like lactose and galactose sugar in milk that are now found to cause oxidative stress and inflammation for individuals. There are more complexities, in addition.

Nations with developing and diversified habitat conditions such as India have multiple and diverse ecosystems at different points in scales of extreme polarities; poor and rich, rural and urban, squalor and luxury, unemployed and unemployed, and so on. Amidst all this diversity, there are two common national cultural trends; aspiration for growth and passion for equity. Each individual develops his or her own personality that expresses individuality and conformity that are not only influenced by the observed behavioural inputs but also the embedded factors of the ecosystems. These influences on individual personality development and collective social motive force are rarely appreciated with the needed perspicacity so much so the pressures get built up to alarming levels. Sudden and volatile expressions of resentment in families, institutions, firms and societies are a result of insensitivity to what could constitute an optimum balance of individuality and conformity on one dimension and economic growth and social equity on the other dimension.

Observation and research

Unfortunately, by the time one gets to recognize the need for personality optimization, much of one’s personality gets formed. The only way one rebalances and optimizes one’s personality is through observation and research. And the start point of one’s observation and research must be revalidation of the hypotheses that have been allowed to embed themselves over the years; like the several food and nutrition examples that have led to contrarian conclusions through more objective and intensive observation and research. Observation is the act or faculty of watching something or someone carefully for a period of time, especially to learn something. Research takes observation to the next level. Research is the careful study of a subject, especially with a view to discover new facts or information about it. Observation and research are an essential component of personality redevelopment that has several facets to it. Observation becomes relevant only with an open state of mind while research becomes helpful only with an analytical bent of mind.

The triggers for an individual to be motivated to observe and research are rooted in relative success of others and one’s own outlook. At a national level, countries aspire to achieve a national comparative advantage to achieve superior economic growth; but a few countries like India tend to be sensitive, rightly so, to social acceptance of economic platforms. At an entity level, firms seek to achieve firm level competitive advantage to achieve superior business growth. At an individual level, people seek to achieve personalized intellectual advantage to achieve superior career development. These are achieved not merely through past achievements but more through contemporary benchmarking and futuristic aspiration. Korea needed to observe and benchmark with Japan to develop itself as an Asian Tiger. India desires to observe and benefit from multiple national models, from China and Singapore to USA and Japan. The US automobile industry observed and learnt from the Japanese automotive industry to rediscover itself. An NITian (a student of National Institute of Technology) observes and wonders why he or she cannot be better than an IITian (a student of the Indian Institute of Technology). The whole group in any typical class wonders why all of its constituents cannot land themselves into plum jobs offered by Google or McKinsey.

Coincidence, connectivity and correlation

The processes of observation and research have three nuances. These are coincidence, connectivity and correlation. Coincidence is the fact of two things happening at the same time by chance, in a surprising way. Life, it is said, is full of coincidences. The occurrence of someone putting in low effort and achieving high success is more a coincidence than a law (possibly related to a more compassionate evaluator rather than anything else). Connectivity is the state of two things being associated together; it is a state of association by which one causes the other. Passive or active smoking and development of cancer are connected events. Make in Japan is, for example, associated with higher quality and high cost. Correlation is a variable state of connectivity where a change in one factor is accompanied by a change in the other factor. The incidence of diabetes in a society is correlated with an increase in consumption of junk food, for example. The processes of observation and research must learn to differentiate between coincidence, connectivity and correlation. In a meritocracy, getting handpicked for performance based on random interactions would be a coincidence while knowledge and experience would more surely get connected with performance and reward. At a micro level, multiple factors like nature of qualification, type of institution, depth of experience, nature of industry etc., get statistically correlated with career advantage.

While life does have a fair share of coincidences, in so far as performance is concerned, it is best to assume that there can be no coincidence. Many people confuse opportunities with coincidences. An aspirant job-hopper travelling by plane for a scheduled interview may happen to be seated next to a CEO of a different organization in a plane; this “coincidence” may lead to a conversation and a job offer if the CEO is impressed. The opportunity may seem to be a coincidence or a matter of luck but underlying the opportunity lies the ability of the individual to network and impress, the openness of the CEO to be inquisitive, and the willingness of both to make a considered choice. Life may be full of incidents and occurrences like the one mentioned but it is the connectivity between ability and accomplishment that matters. Oftentimes, a simple two factor connectivity may not suffice. In the case of a firm, for example, a firm’s performance may be correlated to its product diversity, geographic diversity, capital expenditure premium talent pool, export share etc., different firms may have different equations of correlation for the same independent variables. Right optics and smart analytics are required to ensure that the processes of observation and research are effective.

Discrimination, differentiation

As an individual observes his or her role model or as an organization observes its industry leader, it is important to develop the right optic (the right sense of sight) to observe, and the right analytics to differentiate between coincidence, connectivity and correlation. Fortunately, both right optic and smart analytics have one faculty in common - discrimination. Discrimination is the ability to recognize differences, and more importantly, the ability to judge the good quality of anything or anyone. Discrimination comes in multiple hues. One set of hues relates to an ability to discriminate between data and information, information and knowledge, and knowledge and wisdom. Another set of hues relates to an ability to discriminate between revenue and profitability, growth and sustainability, market share and revenue share, focus and specialization, and enterprise value and market capitalization. National set of hues relates to an ability to discriminate between economic growth and per capita economic growth, employment and inflation, and economic equality and social equity. Even regulators have the needs to discriminate; for example between monopoly and monopsony, premium and predatory, private weal and public good, and proprietary protection and corporate veil.

The moment an individual, entity or nation decides to become superior, association (and correlation) between enablers and outcomes needs to be established. The correlating variables and the factors of association or connectivity need to be established. The observation and research may lead from the macro to micro as in the case of the Uppsala University’s milk and mortality study wherein the connection between higher milk consumption and higher mortality was first established and then probable contributory causes such as lactose and galactose sugar were later drilled down. In the study of leaders, an association between the leadership styles and firm performance may be first established at a macro level and the more impacting correlations established later. Firms may identify an association between operational excellence and firm performance at a macro level and seek multiple correlations thereafter. The blog post has proposed observation and research, enhanced by right optics and smart analytics and bound together by discrimination as the fundamental tool kit to think beyond coincidence, and establish connectivity and collaboration for development of individuals, entities, societies, and nations.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on November 9, 2014