Manager and Driver – A comparison.

Can you judge a person’s managerial potential, competence and capability by observing his driving style?

First let us analyze who is a good driver before comparing a driver with a manager.

What is expected of a good driver?

1. Drive you and others safely from place to place.
2. The passengers should feel comfortable and stress free while travelling.
3. Reach the destination as fast as possible without making accidents.
4. Take good care of the car.

What is expected of a good Manager?

1. To lead a team successfully and achieve the organizational objectives.
2. All employees should feel motivated and excited to work under the leader in spite of challenging external market or economic conditions.
3. Meet all legal and statutory obligations, achieve business objectives and provide growth and learning opportunities to all employees.
4. Keep the organization ready for any challenges today and for tomorrow.

Good Driver vs. Good Manager

1. Driving is an intelligent activity and only an intelligent person can become a good driver. Needless to say, a good Manager must be bright and intelligent and is able to deal with concepts and complexity comfortably.
2. Know the road and traffic rules and sign. A good Manager must have a clear understanding about the market, technology and rules and regulations governing the proper management of an enterprise.
3. Develop excellent skills in maneuvering the vehicle through bad roads and heavy traffic. A good manager must have the ability to see ahead clearly, anticipate consequences and implement decisions to ensure success under any adverse circumstances.
4. Basic knowledge about the vehicle and essential maintenance is a must. A Manager must have good knowledge about his company, its products, markets and customer expectations to lead the team successfully.
5. Self-discipline is very important to be a good driver. Ignoring speed limits, one way traffic rules, parking regulations, road signs etc. indicate lack of integrity and ethics. A manager must be a trustworthy person who adheres to certain values and principles to manage the organization in good as well as bad times.
6. A driver must know his way around. If not, enquire and learn about the best and shortest route to the destination in advance. It is never good to stop vehicle multiple times on the way to enquire about the route or get delayed to reach the destination because a wrong route was taken. Keen understanding about the markets, customer expectations and company products are essential to drive business and ensure success of the team.
7. Check weather and traffic conditions before leaving home for a long distance travel. A Manager must validate every plan with ground realities and arrive at realistic estimates before setting the objectives. Too optimistic or overly pessimistic plans can lead to failure.
8. Understand and anticipate other driver’s behavior. Accidents can happen not only because you did not drive properly but also due to the mistake of others. Driver behavior also differs from place to place and city to city. A Manager must be able to understand individual as well as group behavior, why they do what they do, their intentions and needs to lead the team successfully without major dissentions and disillusionment.
9. Be careful about large vehicles, particularly trucks and transport buses. It doesn’t matter that you are driving on the right lane or following the rules, in an accident you won’t be there to explain the truth. Learning to respect authority is critical in any job.
10. Be calm and composed while driving, even when the situation is disturbing and difficult. A good Manager must be calm and composed under pressure and should not become defensive or tense when situations are tough.
11. Check and ensure clear vision before starting the vehicle. Clean the front glass if required.
12. Check your co-passengers. They should not be distracting you while driving. Building effective teams who supports and compliments each other is mandatory for any organization to succeed and this is one of the critical success factors for any Manager.
13. Be smooth. Let the passengers be not unduly discomforted while travelling. Best drivers are smooth drivers. Managers must plan all their activities and inform the team members in advance so that they can also plan their professional and personal lives accordingly. Do not bring rapid organizational or process changes unless it is mandated by sharply declining performance or adverse external circumstances.
14. Be confident, particularly when you are planning to overtake another vehicle. Make your judgment whether it is safe to overtake and go ahead once the decision is taken. Do not change your decision half way through the process. Making decisions in a timely manner with incomplete information under tight deadlines are everyday affair for many managers. Not taking decision is as good as bad decisions.  
15. In case you are going for a long distance drive that lasts more than 5 hours, ensure that the driver has had enough rest before to ensure he is fit and alert for the highway travel.
16. Never take alcoholic drinks, drugs or other mood elevating substances before a long drive which increases your risk taking attitude without proper judgment.
17. Safety is always a priority. Ensure the driver and all the passengers are wearing their seat belts, particularly in the highways. Risk taking ability is important for progress but not so much that it destroys the very fiber of the organization.
18. Attitude – if you do not have the right attitude it won’t matter how much knowledge or skill you have, you won’t be a good driver. Neither a good Manager. Attitude determines your altitude!

I have gone around with Drivers who are extremely careful and drive slowly to avoid any potential accidents. So also with drivers who drives extremely fast to an extend that you are sitting very uncomfortably in the car. But I always prefer those drivers who drive fast very carefully and reach the destination earlier.

Have you ever experienced the following behavior?

You finally reach the toll booth after being in the queue for more than 15 minutes. Your colleague who is driving the car rolls down the window and ask the operator as to how much is the toll…. Then slowly searches for the money purse which is finally traced to his back-pocket and hands over Rs. 500 for a toll of 31! The toll booth operator is trying to be patient but not the drivers in the vehicles behind who started honking due to the unusual delay! You too are exasperated by the casual and thoughtless behavior of your colleague but keep a smiling and indifferent face. The worst part is that you again stand in the queue to pay the same thirty one rupees on return which could have been avoided if a return ticket was taken.

Or have you seen business executives, who looks like frequent traveler, stumbling at the security check point searching for his boarding pass or taking out coins and key chains one by one when you are fuming behind him in the queue when your flight is already announced! There are also persons who search for their passport after reaching the immigration counter!

What is your opinion about such persons?  How do you define their behavior? If you are his boss, would you give him additional responsibilities or promote such people?

 I see a lot deficiency in these type of individuals. Clearly they are not action oriented and does not show any sense of urgency and may miss many opportunities in their lives. They also seriously lack in certain managerial skill sets such as planning, organizing, timely decision making and priority setting. Lack of maturity, responsibility and thoughtfulness stand outs in these people and they can also be called undisciplined.

One might think that I am too critical, harsh and paranoiac in judging people and that too very soon. But my experience shows that these are not one time behavior but habits formed over a period of time and difficult to change unless conscious about it and make serious efforts to change.

 

 

 

Venu Payyanur 

In the previous article, 116 attributes were mentioned that helps a person to be successful in life as well as in profession. The list was only indicative and one can dwell on each of those individual attributes at length. Essentially all those attribute could be classified into three categories. Character/Personality, Attitude/behaviour and knowledge/Skill.

Character

Although character is related to personality, it is not the same thing. Personality is primarily inborn traits, while character consists of learned behaviour.

Character is a set of behaviour traits that define what sort of person an individual is. It determines whether a person will effectively achieve goals, be forthright in dealing with others and will obey the laws and rules of the group. It can also imply a variety of attributes such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring or of good behaviours or habits, etc. Character is who we really are. It’s what we do when no one is looking. It is the accumulation of thoughts, values, words and actions. These become the habits that comprise our character. That character determines our destiny.

The family is the primary character-building force in a child’s life, and character education is a major family obligation. The following thoughts and actions determine and help build our character.

• Be straightforward, open and direct.

• Be sincere. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

• Look out for the best interests of the people who depend on you.

• Don’t lie (that is, don’t misrepresent facts or opinions).

• Be reliable; keep your word.

• Make only promises that you can and will keep.

• Support and protect the best interests of your family, friends, employers, community and country.

• Don’t talk behind people’s backs or spread harmful rumours or gossip.

• Share your values and beliefs with your children.

• Walk your talk.

• Treat everyone with respect by being courteous and polite.

• Judge people on their merits, not on their race, religion, nationality, gender, physical or mental condition, or social and economic status.

• Don’t manipulate or take advantage of other people.

• Think before you act. Consider the consequences for yourself and others.

• Be accountable. Take responsibility for the consequences of your actions (or lack of action).

• Be reliable. Always perform your duties.

• Don’t blame others for your mistakes.

• Don’t take credit for other people’s work or accomplishments.

• Don’t give up.

• Don’t neglect your duties.

• Treat all people fairly.

• Consider all the facts, including opposing views, before making a decision.

• Live by the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want them to treat you.

• Don’t be selfish.

• Obey the rules and laws.

• Be a good team player.

Personality

Personality is the set of characteristics that each person possesses. Personality influences how one behaves as well as one’s motivations. The personality is the one making the person react in a certain way in various situations. Basically, it is the image that one presents in front of others. Some of the traits based on which we judge the personality of a person are as follows. Warm, outgoing, kind, easy-going, participating, likes people, emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy, lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive, Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, discreet, shrewd, polished, astute, diplomatic, open to change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, flexible, perfectionistic, organized, self-disciplined, trusting, unsuspecting, accepting, unconditional, etc.

Personality traits are individual, subjective, and vary widely. Character traits are objective, constant, and timeless. Personality is easy to read, and we’re all experts at it, but to judge one’s character takes time.

Attitudes

Attitudes are vital/emotionalized thoughts about our existence. Attitudes can be divided into those that we have towards life, towards ourselves, and towards others. Attitudes can be positive or negative. An on-going positive attitude is the goal we seek. It leads to greater accomplishment and attracts positive conditions.  Most of our difficulties in life are rooted in our wanting attitudes. An attitude is born when an opinion is endorsed by the emotions. We acquire our attitudes through our parents as we are raised, in our interaction with others and the environment, through the genes we inherit from previous generations, and through the challenges and difficulties of life.

Perhaps our greatest stumbling blocks are in our attitudes. In our attitudes lies our greatest barrier to success in life. We can trace our positive and negative attitudes towards others, towards, things, towards ourselves, and towards life. Each person can make the effort to overcome their own predominant negative attitudes. This will lead to becoming a better person, and enable greater accomplishment and joy in life. When a person changes a negative attitude, often we witness an instantaneous positive response from life. The process of reversing a negative attitude would occur by shedding our subjective, false opinion about an object, and replacing it with the objectives truth of things. There are three ways to overcome negativity towards another, such as bad will, anger, jealousy, disdain, etc. First, refrain from verbally expressing it. Second control your emotions about it. Third, empty your thoughts of it. Success arises from shifting our reliance from the outer world around us to our own inner being, relying on right attitudes, rather than on external sources of support and assistance.

Examples of negative attitude about work and life include an unwillingness to be fully engaged in the work at hand, procrastinating, not caring about the quality of our efforts, being lazy, and being cynical. Examples of negative attitudes towards others is being hostile and harbouring ill-will to another, and being jealous. Examples of negative attitudes about ourselves is having low self-esteem and self-confidence.  If we can identify our own unique individual negative attitudes, and make the concerted effort to overcome them, not only can we create the right conditions for greater achievement and joy in life, but also under the right conditions we can invoke continuous sudden and abundant response from life.

Behaviour

Behaviour can be defined as the way in which an individual behaves or acts towards people, society or objects. It can be either good or bad. It can be normal or abnormal according to society norms. Society will always try to correct bad behaviour and try to bring abnormal behaviour back to normal. Human behaviour is influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics. The following are the root causes of behaviour differences: individual differences, differences in family patterns, impairment/disabilities, environmental factors and psychological factors.

Attitude and Behaviour

Experts say that that attitude is what you think whereas behaviour is what you do. In other words it can be said that attitude has to do with the mind whereas behaviour has a lot to do with actions.

Attitude is thought-oriented whereas behaviour is action-oriented. Hence attitude has all the power to shape the behaviour of a person. It is indeed true that a person with the right attitude would be endowed with the right behaviour too.

Attitude is all about the opinion somebody has about something in life. Behaviour is about how one responds to the impulsions and the pulls of the environment.

Knowledge and Skill

Knowledge refers to learning concepts, principles and information regarding a particular subject(s) by a person through books, media, encyclopaedias, academic institutions and other sources. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); and it can be more or less formal or systematic. Constantly increasing our knowledge is essential if we are to progress further or develop ourselves. Whatever field we are involved in, we always have to look for ways and means to expand our knowledge. Increase in knowledge in a particular subject can lead to better understanding, grasp, judgement, intelligence and ability in that area. It can expand our thinking and heighten our expertise on a topic. Knowledge allows us to understand, analyse, plan, evaluate and measure. The greater our knowledge, the more accurate our prediction. Knowledge ensures that skills are applied in the right fashion. According to scriptures, knowledge can be gained by four means.

“Achaaryaath paadam aadatthe, paadam sishya swamedhayaa, paadam sa brahmachaaribhya, sesham kaala kramena cha”. It means one can get one quarter of the knowledge from the teacher, one quarter by analysing oneself, one quarter by discussing with others and the last quarter one can get during the process of living.

Skill refers to the ability of using the acquired knowledge and applying it in a context. In other words, knowledge refers to theory and skill refers to successfully applying that theory in practice and getting expected results. To be successful in any profession, some of the skills that are essential are technical skill, communication skill, planning and organizing skills, interpersonal skills, team building skills, leadership skills, negotiation skills, time management skills, etc.

Knowledge can be learnt whereas skills require practical exposure and can also be in-born. Skills can take a person only to a certain level. To move ahead, it is necessary that a person has the requisite knowledge as well. Knowledge and skill are equally important. As they grow, so does the individual competency. If your knowledge is faulty and your skill is high, then you will go brilliantly along the wrong path. If your knowledge is high and your skill is weak, then you may go very slowly in the correct direction, but never arrive. To achieve the highest results, you need to be both knowledgeable and skilful. Knowledge points the way; skill walks the path.

“Knowledge gives you proficiency, application of the knowledge gives you efficiency and the knowledge applied at the right place, right time and right way gives you effectiveness”. And that is the secret of success.

Venu Payyanur

As the organization grows, expectation of the stakeholders also grows, at times more dramatically than the business itself. Shareholders expect higher profitability and return on their investments while employees are looking for higher salaries and benefits. Customers demand the best product at the lowest cost with unprecedented levels of service and support. Balancing these conflicting demands and yet sourcing enough funds for investments for future growth is like tightrope walking. Authorities are looking for increased tax revenue and the company must also meet its corporate social responsibilities. Some of these are conflicting and difficult to manage. Let us evaluate each of these conflicting demands on the company management in more details.

Customers – Probably the most important segment of all who ultimately decides the success and failure of an organization. In a highly competitive market place when the customers have multiple choices to decide from, they can be extremely demanding. Customers are looking for products with most advanced technology at the lowest possible price and on-demand service and support, preferably free of cost throughout the life of the system. Companies have to constantly reinvent themselves to remain competitive and be successful as none can be the leader in all the three areas of technology, price and process/service.

Technology challenges – this is a double edged sword. Customers are always looking for products that give better results, faster, easy to use and smaller. But it must also be easy to learn and implement. Imagine the struggle many organizations have to face when they introduced computers for accounting or similar applications many years ago.  Besides maintaining ledgers manually for many months managements have also to confront aggressive trade unions resorting to strike fearing their jobs due to automation. Considering the rapid progress in technology, such challenges are magnified manifold more so when one is dealing with organizations working under regulatory controls such as pharmaceutical companies or food testing laboratories. Hence the challenge is on you to ensure that the users are successful in using the products and getting better than expected results without interrupting their day to day activities. This is like changing the tyres when the car is still running.

Price challenge – India is generally a highly price conscious market and we Indians enjoy hard bargaining whether we are buying high technology products or vegetables. If you are sales manager, you would have certainly heard these kinds of statements from your sales man

This is a Government customer and has a fixed budget. Therefore we must reduce the price to get the order.

This is a university customer and has very limited budget. However we will benefit in the long run as the students who use our system will become users or managers in due course of time and will buy our products. Hence we must take this order at any cost.

This is a big buyer and is planning to buy multiple systems this year and how can we ever miss such an opportunity. The customer prefers our product but if we do not meet his price expectations, the order will be taken by our competitor.

Ultimately it is up to you to decide whether it makes business sense to take the order at the price the customer demands or leave it, taking into consideration the overall internal financial guidelines and external market conditions. You may also feel that all the competitors are unreasonable and do not follow common sense business policies or else how could they offer such low prices and special prices to the customers when situation does not really demand such things!

Process/support challenges – when you describe a customer, who actually you are referring to? Is it the end user? Her Manager? The General Manager of the dept. or the Vice President of the Division? Or is it the Purchase Manager, Finance Manager, Vice President of Supply chain Management? Or is it someone at the “C” level executives such as the CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, etc? The process and support challenges are unique for each of these groups and must be managed to ensure overall customer satisfaction.

If the end user is successful in using your product, she will always support you. Successful here actually means not that the equipment is working OK, it means the product/equipment gives absolutely trouble free operation and the results are better than expected, maximum uptime of the system and if ever there is a problem it is attended and solved at the shortest possible time and the support is excellent, effortless, less expensive and hassle-free. She is provided frequent trainings free of cost to improve her knowledge and skill sets and additional training programs conducted whenever there is attrition.

The purchase manager will take all the time in the world to decide and will also call you for discussions and negotiations for the nth time, but once the order is placed she expects the delivery yesterday! Forget the payment terms or delivery commitments in the offer!

The finance Manager expects maximum discount, 180 days credits without guarantee, and not to charge for freight and insurance! Warranty should be for the life of the system!

“C” level managers are looking for better return on investments, improving productivity and quality and saving in time and manpower. If your products can meet those expectations, you are the winner! 

Finally you need to sell your product, meet your company expectations in terms of margins and short and long term profitability targets!

Employees Expectations – Attracting and retaining highly qualified, skilled and experienced knowledge worker is one of the biggest challenges of a fast growing medium sized high technology company. In a growing economy, employment opportunities are easily available as existing companies are growing and new companies are being set up every day and they all need additional manpower. Though India is producing the highest number of graduates and post graduates, English speaking professionals, none of them are trained or skilled to meet the specific needs of any company or industry group. However those with two or three years of work experience become highly valuable and can demand 50% or more increase in salary for a switch and gets it easily. Because of our demographic structure where almost four generations of workers are in the industry, meeting every segments expectations and needs are another big challenge for any company management. Young, professionally qualified, below 30 employees are looking for highest “take home” salary, learning opportunity and fast career progressions. Those above 40 years need good salary, responsible managerial positions, stability and long term benefits such as pension, gratuity, superannuation, etc. 30% and above attrition levels have become common in many fast growing high technology companies and that has become a major impediment to sustain the pace of growth. Since employees have option and do get their way today, many do not think about the future.

Why is Indian economy growing today? It is mainly because the labour is cheap here! Multinational companies transfer their work to India as they are able to get their job done at equal or acceptable quality levels at a fraction of the labour costs in the USA or Western European countries. But at the current rate of increase in salary and benefits, we will certainly loose that advantage very soon, in the next 10 to 15 years’ time! In many high technology companies the salaries would have gone up by more than 5 times in the past 10 year! Few cases even more than 10 times! While the salary increase in developed countries have stabilised to less than 2% a year! Since every company needs experienced and competent employees to sustain their growth, the management succumb to the pressure today but may be they are mortgaging their future opportunities!

Share holder expectations – one can keep arguing as to who is the most important stake holder of the company. Some will say it is the customer, as without the customer no company can grow! Some will say it is the employees as they are the group that runs the organization! But we all forget that without the shareholders, there is no company! And therefore they are the most important stakeholder and must be taken care of properly by ensuring that the market value grows year after year and dividends are paid out regularly. Growth in share prices are depended on EPS (Earnings per share) and therefore the company management must ensure that there is constant growth in the absolute and percentage profits of the company! To increase profits one must increase revenue, increase gross margin and reduce expenses. Increase in revenue can only be done by selling more to the existing customers or finding new customers or new markets. In a competitive environment, margins are always under pressure and your managerial ability is always under question when the gross margin is in the decline! For many high technology companies, the salary and travel forms the biggest percentage of expenses and is always on the increase! As a CEO of such a company you will be doing a tight rope walk in balancing the demands of all the important stakeholders of your company!

Government, central/state/local – every one of them is looking for additional revenue whether it is for developmental purposes or other purposes. Every company have to pay Income tax, central excise, central sales tax and state sales tax, service tax, entry tax, octroi, customs duty, etc for all of their business transactions. There is also professional tax, ESI, provident fund, shops and establishment tax, factory licence, environmental clearance, you name it and we have it. If you delay or miss making any payments on time then you end up paying a heavy penalty for such a lapse and at times you get a feeling that the authorities are waiting in the wings to catch you the moment you get something wrong rather than help you do everything right!.

Corporate social responsibility – this can be interpreted in many different ways! It includes meeting the expectations of all the large political groups, small groups and sub groups, meeting the expectations of various religious groups for their festivals or construction of places of worship, and many more! All need money for their activities and you may get into troubles if you ignore their regular demands.

As a Manager of a fast growing high technology company, your success is in meeting or exceeding the expectations of all these stakeholders  and as you can see, it is not always very easy as they are not complimentary!