Be Reasonable

                                                 BE REASONABLE

1. "Come on ,be reasonable", are the most commonly used words while discussing, arguing, negotiating  or in meetings  The basic premise being to bring the other person to agree to what one is saying or putting forward. It is used when all logic has failed and one wishes to end the discussion. But what happens when you become reasonable and agree to whatever is being put forward. It simply implies that, you also agree that there is no other way, no other alternative except the one being put forward. It is here, you stop thinking and trying to find a way to do things in a different way. If there is no disagreement, then there can be no progress because progress implies disagreement.

2. More often the term is used  to justify old ways of doing things, the way the things have always been done. If you keep doing things the way they have always been done then you will keep getting the same results. Most of us are very comfortable with continuity and do not wish to change it, as we are scared of getting different results and be reasonable is actually an attempt to go with the continuity. It is this continuity which will lead to complacency and hinder all progress.

3. Why things have become accepted the way they are? Is it because that way they are more effective or is it because the things are easy to do it as they form a habit and this allows a person to do things in a mechanical way rather than think about it and find a new better way to do things. Most of the time it is because we prefer to do things out of habit and in a routine way.

4. One does not have to do things as others are doing it or it is done this way only or it is the way others have taught you to do things. It is the best way for people, who wish to continue with the continuity and do not wish to waste time in thinking and trying to find a better way to do things. To change something, you have to change your actions and to change actions one has to change his thinking and the best way to change the thinking is to stop doing things out of habit in a routine way and this implies a break in continuity. The break can only come, if you disregard the premise of being reasonable.

5. When things are in continuity, being reasonable gets you reasonably good results and normally one is quite satisfied with it. It is when discontinuity exists or appears, then the premise of reasonableness does not get you the desired results. It is then, one starts looking at different ways to overcome the problem. But here also most of the time one tries to see how others have done it or are coping with this discontinuity. Again even in these circumstances one looks at the continuity. Discontinuities, are breaks in the normal accepted ways of doing things. We accept that the best practice even in these circumstances is the best practice that we have practiced in the past or what best practices others are following it. The basic premise being that the conditions are the same for us as they are for others. But unfortunately things do not remain the same. If they were to remain same then there can not be any progress and if the things do not remain the same then the logic of reasonableness does not hold good.

6. One can not change something one does not understand. To understand it you will have to come out of it and look at it from a completely different angle or perspective. Break it down into smaller pieces, the smallest you can make them and forget where they came from. Forget the original and then look at them with different arrangements, different combinations and new relationships. That way it will be easily to find new and better ways of doing things. After all “How do you eat a watermelon?” The best way would be one small bite at a time, bite small enough for one to chew it comfortably, rather than eating the whole in one go.

7. A reasonable model will create only reasonable results and if you want extraordinary results then you will first have to force your thinking to become unreasonable. If one keeps the same way one will get the same results, same answers. To get different results one will have to start thinking differently and to think differently one needs to avoid the trap of reasonableness. Being reasonable prevents and hinders progress. Being reasonable has three aspects, the reason of logic and common sense, the reason of explanation and the reason of fairness.

8.  We accept that the best practices for others are also best practices for us because we tend to believe that environmental or other conditions will remain the same for us as they were for others. But unfortunately this does not happen at all times. When it happens we get the same results and this reinforces our belief on the basis of reasonableness but unfortunately the conditions never remain the same but keep changing and it here the logic of being reasonable fails and we keep wondering as to what went wrong and why we did not get the desired results.

10. To be unreasonable you will have to accept that:-

         (a) There are other ways of doing things.

         (b) Reject the premise of continuity.

         © Break the habit of doing things out of habit.

        (d) Break the process into smaller parts, which you can handle easily and try to find new
             combinations, new arrangements and new beginning.                     

        (f)  Do not agree for the sake of agreeing but agree if it makes sense?
        (g)  Even if you agree, then still try to find another way in order to make the process or result
              better.

Just A Minute

                                         JUST A MINUTE

1. How often we have heard a sentence” Just a minute”? I have heard it so many times that now hearing it has become a habit with me and it hardly registers itself. It is especially true when you have been waiting long or when you are in a hurry. This just a minute is the smallest as well as the longest minute depending upon the situation in which you are in but mostly it just implies that the other person has absolutely no idea how much time he is going to take. At the shortest end it is when you are waiting for the traffic light to turn green and the person behind you starts blowing his horn as soon as the traffic light turns green. At the other end of the spectrum it is the longest one minute when after a long wait you finally have managed to reach the service window and the person goes off by saying that ‘I will be back in a minute” to start a long agonizing wait for him to come back god knows when.

2. You come out of a shop and notice a car blocking your exit and then starts an agonizing wait and search for the missing owner of the car. After an eternity the person appears and without acknowledging you, enters the car to drive away. When you recover from the shock to ask the person about the reasons for blocking the exit his cool reply is always that “I was gone only for a minute”.

3. You wait at the telephone booth to make an urgent call and after an agonizing long wait you finally muster enough courage to tap on the glass door to attract his attention only to find him leaning out of the door to say ”Just a minute” and continues with his talk for another long period . You then start wondering whether to tap again or go in search of another phone booth.

4. You are in a meeting with a person on an important topic to both of you and suddenly he picks up his phone to answer it and says it will take a minute only. He may actually take a minute or more than that but that is immaterial because his action has broken up the contact, the flow of discussion and most important your chain of thoughts. He gets back and starts the conversation with “so where were we”.  You wonder as to what you are doing there and if the talk is important to you, you start your thought process and the dialogue all over again.

5. It is after such beautiful experiences with the minute you start wondering that is your knowledge of a minute about being equal to 60 seconds is justifiable true or not. Does it needs modification to be equal to the time taken by another person to finish his talk or work in a totally unconcerned manner to his entire satisfaction without being held accountable for the so called minute.

6.  These are just a few examples of the situation in which you might have heard the sentence and many times you might have used it yourself without realizing it. But whatever may be the situation or circumstances the end result is invariably the same, a feeling of sheer helpless and frustration. Next time remember your feeling when you use this with another person and have some pity on him.

NO Boundaries

                                            NO BOUNDARIES

1. We are very good at setting boundaries, limitations and restrictions not only on ourselves but also on others. We go to the extent of not only setting boundaries in our work place, social circuit but also in our thinking and thinking process. We decide even before we try to find alternatives to the problem we face, as to what is acceptable and what is not, what is right and what is not right and we even go the extent of looking at what others like and what they do not like.

2. We erect boundaries around our establishment by erecting walls, fences and have security. We proudly proclaim that our employees are our strength and totally trustworthy but we subject them to security checks when they come in and when they go out and to frequent checks and audits. We set boundaries and divide the establishment into department and divisions and then take a step further by restricting movement between departments. We even go to the extent of dividing the working areas into workers, supervisors’ and managers. The effect is that they become water tight areas. Not satisfied with this we even set up boundaries around ourselves by erecting partitions to protect our privacy and even demand our private working place.

3. Not satisfied with these physical boundaries we even set boundaries into our interaction with others by choosing with whom, how, where, when and what we wish to communicate. To protect the privacy we hide behind official letters, memos and now even e-mails. Face to face communication is fast becoming outdated to be replaced by e-mails, where you can write anything without betraying you facial expressions, emotions and true intentions. Body language is gradually being phased out.  After setting up these virtual boundaries, we spent a large portion of out time and effort in wondering as to why the communication between people and department takes so much of time and how to improve inter and intra departmental communications.  We isolate ourselves behind the walls and partitions and then after erecting them we worry as to why the communication is poor in our organization and what we can do to improve it. We would prefer to write and exchange a number of memos or e-mails to our colleague and next door neighbor on a simple problem but would feel humiliated in just getting up and going to his place tot talk and sort out the issue. We have hierarchical structure in our organization, reserved parking spaces, special eating tables and go to the extent of having reserved elevators and passages. We tend to create a class within a class and still follow the old feudal system.

4. We impose boundaries in our behavior by imposing how and what to dress and what not to wear. We have traditions, customs, mannerism and accepted ways of doing things and even decision making and rules and regulation to see that these are followed and adhered to. Any deviations are criticized and even punished. We have standards and specification to stop people from going beyond a particular limit and then we spend considerable amount of time wondering as to why there is so little progress and why there are hardly any new ideas coming forward in meeting and the only new ideas being put forward are the same old ones put in a different packaging.

5. We encourage people to use e -mails and hence create virtual boundaries behind which we can hide ourselves, our emotions and true feelings. Of course they are useful for conveying decisions, information to large number of persons located at different locations but rarely within the same building or offices. We thus neglect the most powerful way of communication that is face to face. This face to face communication improves communication, builds trusts and creates a friendly atmosphere and allows persons to develop confidence.

6. We do not seem to realize that the problems are basically due to the boundaries, whether physical or virtual, which we have set for ourselves and for our employees. Most of these problems will get sorted out when we see the rules, restrictions, standards, customs, traditions and accepted ways of doing thing as restrictive boundaries which not only restrict poor movement but also restrict out thinking and the capability to generate new ideas and new ways of doing old things. If you wish to change the organization then it is worth while to just sit down quietly and reexamine, reassess and rewrite these boundaries. The ideal system will be the one that has no boundaries but it is a utopian concept and we can always try to achieve it and in the process become a better person a, a better place to work and a better way to do the things.

7. To change or remove something one needs to act in a different way, to act in a different way one needs to think in a different way and to think differently one needs to see and perceive the present in a different new manner and in order to achieve this one needs to remove the boundaries which one has created around one’s thinking, work place and the accepted way of doing things.

7. The first step in any process of change is to accept the fact that something needs to be changed. This starts with by asking the questions:-

      (a)  Do we require these boundaries?

      (b)  Is it the only way to do things?

      ©    Does it improve communication?

     (d)  Does it make common sense?

     (e)   What is its real purpose and can we achieve the end without it?

     (f)  What all restrictions this imposes?

     (g)   Does it require change?

     (h)   What will be the effect of changing these?

8. Do not change something just for the sake of changing it, change it if it requires change , if it improves your thinking, if it hinders communication, if it will permit more free thinking and improves creativity, if it makes common sense and most important if it makes progress.  Aim for better and better rather than on the best as better allows one to focus on the process rather than on the results. Once you have decided to remove or modify the boundary, but before implementing it ask again:-

          (a)  Does removing it meets the objective we have set out to achieve?

           (b)  Does it offer simplification of the process?

           ©   Does removing it make sense?

           (d)  Is this change a step towards making the process better?

9.  This starts a new cycle of examining new boundaries and again a cycle of new questions and answers. This is what will ultimately start a process of continuous improvements in the organization which will allow you to achieve better and better performance and results.

Controlling Controls

                                                

                                              CONTROLLING CONTROLS

1. Managers always like to be in control of the processes and situations. We set up standards, rules, regulations so as to regulate the processes and systems within predefined limits. Control is what brings orderliness into the system and keeps it on track. As managers we do not like surprises and the main use of controls is to avoid surprises.
2. Control implies continuing with the continuity. It allows one to maintain the status quo by keeping the processes and systems with in the predefined limits of the parameters selected to monitor the process. It essentially implies keeping the car on the road or keeping the train on the track. The better a control system is in the organization the more confident the managers are that the continuity of the system or process will be maintained and unpleasant surprises do not occur.
3. To make a control more effective sub controls are established to monitor and control a particular variable in the process so that it contributes effectively to the establishment of overall control. Sometimes these sub controls can be in conflict with each other. But organizations in blind faith of continuing with the continuity and to avoid the risk of surprises , allow the controls to control their actions and in the end the controls start controlling the thought processes of the organization. If a surprise occurs then the organization bound by its standards and rules refuses to acknowledge them. Sometimes the controls established are not designed to detect these deviations and sometimes these deviations are ignored with the assumptions that "all is well" or ' we are doing very well". At times these surprises are often brushed aside or put under the carpet with the notion that they are exceptions or fluctuations in the process and do not represent the trend. sometimes they are dealt as crisis , where the person who manages the crisis gets rewarded rather than addressing the question as to what led to this crisis, what we missed and why we missed it. This feeling of being comfortable with the present way of doing things constraints the organization to loose the competitive edge and leads it to fade away into non entity over a period of time. The time period is different for different organizations but it the only thing certain is that it will come.
4. These controls besides leading the organization to complacency have a number of side effects:-
(a) Inhibit the organizations ability to explore new areas.
(b) Inability to question the validity and usefulness of these controls.
(c) Curb the risk taking ability of its employees.
(d) Curb creativity and innovation.
(e) Restricts useful information to them thus affecting their ability to take correct and timely decisions.
(f) People tend to play by the controls and standards rather than change them to changing environment and situations.
(g) Blame the standards and controls in case of failure rather than accept the blame.
5. This does not mean that controls are not required or they are bad. They are required and are essential but what is required is to control these standards and controls so that they do not become a burden and an anchor around the neck of the organizations thus suffocating it, by denying the oxygen of creativity and change, to its untimely death. What the organizations need to understand is how much control is required, where these are required and where these are not required , what type of controls are required, who is required to control what and lastly what controls have become outdated and need to be discarded or changed. this is what we understand by the term "controlling the controls".
6. It is a process of questioning the controls and starts with the first premise of " Do we require controls?" By all means have control but keep them to the most essential ones, where they are required as an absolute must and not to all the areas where you can possibly put controls. In examining the standards and controls for their requirement and usefulness, we need to ask ourselves the questions:-
(a) Is it required at all? Can we do without them?
(b) Find out what we need to control and what to measure and not what all we possibly can.
(c) Keep them to the most essential so that people can remember them and applying them becomes a habit rather than a forced procedure.
(d) If a standard or control is more than a year old then reexamine it.
(e) If you have not used a standard for six months then put it in the waste paper basket.
(f) If a control is working very well then it is time to question and reexamine them. It is possible that they were wrongly set or they are too loose.
(g) When you establish controls and standards then also plan as to when you are going to remove them or under what environmental conditions they will become redundant.
7. The major aim is to make the organization flexible enough so that it encourages risk taking, individual initiative and gives a person enough courage to question their usefulness and validity. This will also give the courage to employees to notice and accept and be prepared for surprises as and when they occur and to make timely changes and amendments at their own levels without waiting for a response from higher up. The organization will then change from being a reactive one to a proactive and allow creativity and innovation to flourish.