The man behind the job

RANJINI MANIAN
We tend to refer to people by the jobs they do rather than their names. This can be disrespectful, especially lower down the professional order.

Over the last few months, I have been working with a young German intern, here to learn from India's rich experience of inter-cultural adaptations at work. The learning has been mutual. I find that life's lessons can come from anyone irrespective of their gender, generation or cultural origin. Learning is no more a one-way street. Was it ever?

My intern, let's call him Max, has offered us many insights and different takes on our views. Some of what I learnt is not strictly business, but I felt it was very valuable in the larger context of human relations.

For instance, one morning, he came to speak to me about running an errand — delivering a letter to an important leader. “Shall I drop off the letter today?” he asked.

“Yes, please, Max, do that.”

“My driver will take you there, and you can try to speak to the Executive Assistant,” I added helpfully.

“Your driver?” said Max, stopping in his tracks. “You mean Rajan?... He is a person.”

“Yes, of course, you're right, Rajan will take you,” I said hastily. And it made me think of the disconnect between what we profess and what we do in India.

We profess to have unity in diversity.

We profess to see oneness in all.

We profess to speak with respect.

Yet, every now and then, we are apt to forget the person and simply look at the job he or she is doing.

For the longest time I had been battling to establish the identity of the garbage collector who comes to my home on his rounds in the neighbourhood. People would say to each other at home, “ Kupai-karanis here” which translates as “garbage man” or “ kachada-wallah”. I would think, this man has a name given to him by his parents which defines him and is something he is proud of. Calling him by his name rather than referring to the “duty” he does would be respectful of his sensitivities. We found out he was called Ravi, and referred to him by name in due course.

But while talking to Max, I realised to my discomfiture that I had fallen into the trap of referring to a person by his “job description” rather than his actual name.

I've discussed in earlier articles the discomfort Westerners, particularly the Americans, have with being addressed as ‘Sir' or ‘Ma'am'. “Why don't our teammates just call us by our names?” they wonder. Well, it's one thing to follow our tradition of showing respect to our superiors by addressing them as “Sir” or “Doctor” or even “Boss” and another matter when we reduce a person to a role that is perceived as being of a ‘lower order'.

“Guard, I am expecting a visitor, please let the car in”; “Watchman, where can I park?” — such references are common in, say, a big apartment complex where such jobs are usually manned by a shifting population of employees and we don't take the time to find out their names.

There will be some who put up a reverse explanation about how the working class in India does not expect to be addressed by their names; they will tell you that the job description confers on them a degree of respect that being addressed by name does not provide. Yes, we Indians are comfortable using the word ‘ wallah', as in the rickshaw- wallah and the chai-wallah. We gave importance to the role, not to the individual, and the West adopted it to an extent. But times have changed. We need to learn some good points from the West. An expat client once told me in disgust about an Indian who escorted him to a meeting. The man had apparently been giving terse directions to the driver. “Left ... Second right,” and so on. His tone of voice and the fact that he was not polite while talking to the driver had irked the expat, who asked me to make sure that everyone we selected to work with him was sensitive to the dignity of others.

Let's remember this as we go around in our hi-tech cities, software parks, amazing airports and malls, and come face-to-face with the people who clean the restrooms, the people who serve the coffee, the personnel directing traffic in the car parks, and the many ‘nameless' others who keep the system running on well-oiled wheels.

When we address a person by his or her given name, we're affirming her identity. And when we take the trouble to get the pronunciation and spelling correct, as well as any honorific that may go with the name, we're offering due respect to the individual. Not to do so is unforgivable, because we're showing we don't value the person's individuality and identity.

So, whether we're referring to the famous few or the many men-in-the street, let's remember that no one is faceless or nameless. Each of us is an individual, unique and special, irrespective of our status in the social pecking order. We each come with a bit of the divine in us!

Max gave me a timely reminder, and hey, I recommit to living in awareness of this good habit. What about you, new managers?

The writer is CEO of www.globaladjustments.com. She can be reached at info@globaladjustments.co

Courtesy: Business Line 

Terror at the Taj: Customer-Centric Leadership

Harvard students say Wah Taj!

NEW YORK — Staff at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace gave a new meaning to customer service when they saved hotel guests during a 2008 gun battle -- and now Harvard Business School wants to know whether other companies could learn.

The luxury hotel was the scene of a pitched fight between Islamist gunmen and Indian soldiers on November 26, 2008, trapping guests and staff.

Yet staff stayed in the burning building and did everything to shepherd out guests. A total of 31 people died there, including 12 employees.

"Underlying the case is a central conundrum: Why did the Taj employees stay at their posts, jeopardizing their safety in order to save hotel guests?" asks a new study, "Terror at the Taj: Customer-Centric Leadership," released this week.

"And is this level of loyalty and dedication something that can be replicated and scaled elsewhere?"

The study by Harvard Business School professor Rohit Deshpande explores workplace culture in India.

Compared to the West, employers have a much more "paternalistic" relationship with their employees, while length of service is recognized and honored by top management, the study says.

However, "not even the senior managers could explain the behavior of these employees," Deshpande told the business school's website Working Knowledge.

"In the interview, the vice chairman of the company says that they knew all the back exits: the natural human instinct would be to flee. These are people who instinctively did the right thing. And in the process, some of them, unfortunately, gave their lives to save guests."

The study -- which has not yet been made public in full -- found a "unique" employee culture at Tata Sons, the Taj's parent company, including an "exacting process for selecting, training, and rewarding Taj employees for their work."

"Every time they interact with a guest they should look for an opportunity to delight him," said H.N. Srinivas, senior vice president of human resources. During a 24-hour stay, a guest will have an average of 40 to 42 contacts with employees. "We've mapped it," he said.

Hotel general manager Karambir Singh Kang, whose wife and two young sons died that day, said he felt like the captain of a ship. "I think that's the way everyone else felt, too," Kang said. "A sense of loyalty to the hotel, a sense of responsibility to the guests."

Deshpande has taught the case in Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management Executive Education program. The website said the plan is to use the case more widely as an example of managing "post-crisis recovery of a flagship corporate brand."

Courtesy: AFP

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION

You Get what You Give

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay, "Compensation," wrote that each person is compensated in like manner for that which he or she has contributed. The Law of Compensation is another restatement of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. It says that you will always be compensated for your efforts and for your contribution, whatever it is, however much or however little.

Increase Your Value

This Law of Compensation also says that you can never be compensated in the long term for more than you put in. The income you earn today is your compensation for what you have done in the past. If you want to increase your compensation, you must increase the value of your contribution.

Fill Your Mind with Success

Your mental attitude, your feelings of happiness and satisfaction, are also the result of the things that you have put into your own mind. If you fill your own mind with thoughts, visions and ideas of success, happiness and optimism, you will be compensated by those positive experiences in your daily activities

Do More than You're Paid for

Another corollary of the Law of Sowing and Reaping is what is sometimes called the, "Law of Overcompensation." This law says that great success comes from those who always make it a habit to put in more than they take out. They do more than they are paid for. They are always looking for opportunities to exceed expectations. And because they are always overcompensating, they are always being over rewarded with the esteem of their employers and customers and with the financial rewards that go along with their personal success.

Provide the Causes, Enjoy the Effects

One of your main responsibilities in life is to align yourself and your activities with Law of Cause and Effect (and its corollaries), accepting that it is an inexorable law that always works, whether anyone is looking or not. Your job is to institute the causes that are consistent with the effects that you want to enjoy in your life. When you do, you will realize and enjoy the rewards you desire.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, remind yourself regularly that your rewards will always be in direct proportion to your service to others. How could you increase the value of your services to your customers today?

Second, look for ways to go the extra mile, to use the Law of Overcompensation in everything you do. This is the great secret of success.

-Brian Tracy 

Courtesy: Anup Sen email

A collective fulfillment story from Sambalpur

A STORY OF TEAM FULFILLMENT

TURN AROUND STORY OF SAMBALPUR BRANCH

 PERIOD: August 2008 to March 2010

BACKGROUND:

SAMBALPUR BRANCH IS A DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS BRANCH WITH A STAFF COMPLEMENT  OF 57. 

It was beset with many problems including strained Industrial relations, customer apathy etc., crowded with hundreds of customers in the branch. This was the state when I assumed charge. Paper work had already been initiated for improving branch ambience, customer facilities etc. Over the period of 2 years my efforts have  fructified under my own eyes. Today the branch is a place where customers feel welcome and are able to transact their business in a stress free atmosphere. I enclose photographs showing the branch then and now.

HOW IT WAS IMPLEMENTED AND VISIBLE RESULTS:

1.  Did it involve many people from the unit ? What kind of teaming effort took place ?

     Involvement of staff   commenced with monthly staff meetings. The single window operators were encouraged to meet  monthly on their own informally.In the course of these meetings the staff came up with a number of valuable suggestions which were implemented earnestly. Some of these are:

i.            Staff formed groups of 2-3 people each. These groups focused on educating customers in various functional aspects like usage of ATM cards, INB,MBS, filling up forms, withdrawal slips etc.

ii.          The Grahak Mitra became the 1^st point of interaction  and started to guide people to  go for alternate channels usage & cross selling.

iii.         The customer relations officers focused on ensuring that account opening of SB/CA/ STDR/ TDR was prompt .

iv.       The manager (BO) was the hub around which the entire  team revolved. He  took decisions promptly whenever exigencies arose.

v.        The CRE (PB) maintained liason with a DDO’s of various government departments. He also made it a point to visit all HNI customers.

vi.       A core team was formed to give important suggestions in implementing the ambience change at the branch. This team also functioned as the premises committee and took charge of minor matters like customer amenities, staff amenities, providing Mobile charging point, newspapers, Internet Kiosk and drinking water etc.

2.  How did it energise people in the unit ?

     Staff felt  a sense of togetherness amongst themselves. It resulted in new friendships. Everyday brought with it new challenges. They did not think of these as problems. The work atmosphere in the branch changed dramatically. Every month, sincere staff wo have performed well  have been awarded with best employee of the month(photos attached) which energiged all atafff to get the award. There was cheerfulness everywhere. Even the silent ones and the skeptics were enthused by the atmosphere.The mood in the branch changed from pessimism to optimism.

3.  What kind of fulfillment did it result in for the collective involved (staff and customers) ?

     Fulfilment came from recognition of staff members. There was a sense of pride amongst staff that they were doing something which was adding to their job satisfaction. Customers felt good that their jobs were being completed without undue delays. Complaints became very few. Many people felt that they could rely upon  the staff and the commitments made by them. Many customers were satisfied that there were able  to realize their aspirations whether it was a car or a house or funding their child’s education.

4.  How did it enhance your interactions with the customer community ?

The people  were pleasantly surprised that staff of SBI would come out of their workplace and make customer calls. Many felt that their Bank had come to their homes. There was no instance where any staff member was made to feel unwelcome during any customer visit. The response to visits mad eby our staff was excellent. We were able to make our presence felt in the market.

5.  What are the sustainable results of these contributions in your unit ?

     Improved visibility in the Market, amongst customers, Government  Officials and  our competitors.

     Staff members got motivated and fel l that there was a larger purpose in their daily work.

The work  atmosphere was very positive and staff  enjoy their work. Any new development in bank is discussed enthusiastically in staff meetings.

Last but not the least business grew from     Rs.182 Cr to 302 Cr from March 2008 to March 2010(65% growth)

Branch got recognition  due to the sincere efforts made by entire team ie. staff members who have been energised for branch’s growth  and due to inter personal relationship and bonding was high among the staff members. Due to our sincerre efforts, we  got applodes from higher authorities.  Performance of the branch is given below:-

1.      Highest personnel segment growth  in network-II  i.e. from 110 crores to 153 crores during 2009-2010.

2.      Best Branch in NW-II in mobilising Corparate Salary Package A/c’s during 2009-2010

3.      Best branch in mobilising  under Demat / E-Z trade during 2009-2010.

4.      Per employee business growth from 2.33 crore in 2008 to 4.57 crores in 2010.(nearly 100% Groth)

5.      Other Income growth was from Rs.1.72 Cr to  Rs.2.43 Cr ( a growth of 41% in 2 Years.)

6.      Best branch in cros selling i.e. 3 MDRT’s and income for the branch is Rs.15.64 laks from Rs.4.57 in 2008.

7.      Net profit rose from Rs 6.82 Cr to Rs.10.46 crores(53% growth)

8.       In SBI Life , two CIF’s became MDRT and branch earned  more than 15 lacs commission

Contributed by W.V.Lakshman Rao

Chief Manager

Sambalpur

CitizenSBI Blog thanks Mr  B.V.RANGADHAM, Citizen Facilitator, Bhubaneswar Circle for providing us this story.

READING – THE BEST 15 MINUTES YOU’LL EVEN INVEST

 On the basis of two comparative statistics the following valuable information was made available.

The average human reads less than two books per year – one and a half to be exact – with almost two-thirds of those going unfinished. On the whole, at present humans have lost the habit of reading good books

There is a notable exception, however. Chief Executives of Fortune 500 companies read on an average, roughly four books per week. This is equivalent to about 200 times the average for the rest of the world, and it is guaranteed that vast majority of the books read by the so called Chief Executives are good, meaty stuff that causes them to think about their business and/or their life in a very healthy way.

Needless to say, you should start reading four books a week and there is a direct and positive correlation between the amount of good reading an individual does and their influence and income. Unquestioningly, the most life-changing habit you can develop is to systematically read good books.

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones coined the phrase that “Leaders are always Readers”. Brian Tracy has seen it happen many times where an individual went from zero to 30 minutes a day of good reading and saw their income double. If you do not currently make positive reading a regular part of your life, DO SO IMMEDIATELY. Along with changing who you spend your time with, it is absolutely the most powerful way to change your life for the better.

You have to work, spend time with your family and engage in all great activities that you engage in, and you should. You don’t need to become a full time student or some kind of hermit bookworm crazy person. All you need is 15 minutes a day, preferably right in the beginning or right at the end of that day. Watching TV, surfing the internet, eating lunch, just zoning out, the list goes on and on. Just take just 15 minutes out of those kinds of activities each day and invest it in a good book.

- Jai Prakash Pandey

SBI-RSETI, Umaria (M.P.)

HOW ARE YOU

Soul Call

Instrument of the Gods: Chandrika Tandon’s Soul Call
By Chidanand Rajghatta

"The story here is NOT about me or the Grammy...it is about the music and the impact it is having on thousands of people, all over the world," Chandrika Tandon says in mild reproach to interviewers. 

"People who know Indian music, and people who have never heard it in their lives; people from over 20 countries and from all demographics — they talk of singing, weeping, meditating, and reaching the grace inside themselves...that's what it is all about...I was simply an instrument..." 

On the Facebook fan page of Soul Call, more than 15,000 fans are raving about the magical, mystical trip they are experiencing after hearing the album, lately nominated for 2011 Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album. John Wilson calls it "medicine for the soul." Bill Herman, who heard Chandrika sing in Hartford, saying he is moved by the "depth of your voice and what it evoked inside of me." A woman from a Police Department writes to Chandrika to say she was hearing the CD non-stop at her desk — and how other people in her department kept stopping by to ask where they could get the album. Another person talks of how "my father spent the last ten days of his life listening to your CD," and yet another thanks her for "making my mom, who has stage 4 cancer, so happy." 

"Ma'am, you made me cry," writes a Facebooker calling himself Indian Monk. "Grammy or no Grammy, your voice is like soothing balm on the soul." 

Chandrika replies to each message, thanking them for the warm words and wishes, offering little insights into the making of the music, and signing off with "love, light and laughter." And in the same rich, resonant voice that is driving fans to raptures, wonders about how music can cross all boundaries, and "pierce into the deepest part of ourselves and reach into our grace." 

Indian spiritual and religious music has been undergoing both renaissance and resurgence in recent times, thanks in no small measure to technological advances that has made it accessible worldwide through avenues like iPod and You Tube. Chart-busting albums such as Chants of India and Sacred Chants of Shiva are the spiritual flock's morning call in an age of stress and strife, as more and more research points to the calming and healing properties of such music. Soul Call is the newest offering in this genre, but the bhakti and resonance Chandrika Tandon brings to it elevates it beyond the seasonal. Like the Ravi Shankar-George Harrison's Chants of India, this is an album for all times, work that could drive even atheists to a spiritual experience. 

In the clammy environs of Chennai where she grew up with her sister Indra, thoughts of a Grammy must have been farthest from Chandrika's mind. Although she says, "I was singing before I was speaking," and performed in school music choirs winning awards as a child, it was not "proper" in her family to pursue a career in music. Besides, the musical proclivities of the Sisters Krishnamurthy (she got 'Tandonized' after her marriage; Indra became a Nooyi), were eclectic, but distinctly western those days. 

Their mother surrounded their home with music from the time All India Radio would open, filling their lives with traditional Carnatic devotionals and MS Subbalakshmi's bhajans and "tukdas." But "I sang French songs and of course classic pop and rock songs growing up, in addition to Carnatic devotionals and Tamil film songs...I loved all kinds of music and sang all the time," Chandrika recalls. 

In business school in India, she would finish her coursework and go into a music room stocked with just a few albums. Her yearbook says 'She killed us softly with her song,' because she "would listen to Roberta Flack's Quiet Fire, Neil Young's Harvest, or Sergio Mendes's Brazil 66 ten times in a night, until three or four in the morning." Her early years were consumed by French musicians like Enrico Macias and Francoise Hardy; then all the Euro and American pop artists — from Dean Martin, Seekers, Cliff Richard, The Beatles, and hundreds of others. The working years in the 80s, it was the Brazilian greats – Joao Gilberto and Gal Costa; then Middle Eastern music and Western Jazz. 

How do you define eclectic? 

But as with so many peripatetic NRIs — present company included — the time and passage away from home is what stirs the deepest recognition and longing for India's rich and fabled culture and heritage. An 11-year stint with McKinsey burnished her professional career and also polished her ardor for Indian classical music. Living in New York with her husband, finance maven Ranjan Tandon, she began seeking out extraordinary music teachers and performers; anyone that resonated, that could give her a rigorous grounding in classical Indian music. One year, she'd wake up at 4 am every weekend to drive from New York to Wesleyan University in Connecticut for master classes with Carnatic music professor the late T Vishwanathan, and be back by 10 am when her young daughter awoke. "I was a music seeker. I found ways to learn from the greats, whenever and wherever they would teach me," she recalls. 

The journeys got longer as the quest got deeper. The muse called all the time, but allowed only intensive bursts of learning and composing. She traveled to India once or twice a year just to learn from her Guru Shri Girish Wazalwarji, who lives in Allahabad, working with him for seven /eight hours a day for a week, and losing herself "in the beauty and power of our incredibly uplifting, soulful Hindustani classical traditions." Other teachers and influences range from the fine thumri singer Shubra Guha to Veena Sahasrabuddhe ("simply one of the most beautiful voices I have heard,") to Pandit Vijay Kichlu — the sagely 80-year old founder of SRA (Sangeet Research Academy) and a fount of knowledge about the subtleties of Hindustani music. With each of them, she grabs precious moments, either when they visit the US or when she travels to India. 

But it's hard to sustain such intensity and put in consistent riyaaz, given her business commitments – she is the chairman of the financial advisory firm Tandon Capital and serves on several non profit boards including New York University and the American-Indian Foundation — and she recognizes it. "I wish I had two of me to do both well!" she says ruefully. 

Despite her deepening interests, she had never performed publicly, much less thought of recording. Her guru in this matter is Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar who she recalls would "unexpectedly call on me to sing in front of hundreds of people; and people would so enjoy singing together; little by little I developed confidence in myself and sharing my music with big crowds." Citing him as a major inspiration, Chandrika says she also reviews her compositions with him in the early stages and gets his feedback and blessings. Sri Sri, she reveals, is a "brilliant musician" in addition to being the spiritual leader of millions around the world. Before long she would cut her Soul Mantra, Om Namah Shivaya. 

So how did Soul Call happen? Chandrika says she has spent a lot of time over the last few years memorizing major Sanskrit stotras, slokas, and prayers like the Vishnu Sahasranamam, works of Adi Sankara and other great verses from Vedic history, working on their meaning and translation, to bring it into her music. Although she has a rigorous grounding in Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music, she says her heart was always drawn to simple songs based on classical Indian scales; "songs that made the joy of music reachable to more people." She started composing; hundreds of joyous compositions in classical scales, but suffused with "all the global music that is part of my spirit." Her soul, she says, is uplifted when she can sing with others. For her first compositions, she chose the Sanskrit chants by using verses of invocation drawn from several Vedic texts like the Vishnu Sahasranama and the Ranganatha Ashtakam. Five years ago, she cut her first album, Om Namoh Shivaya, as a gift on her father-in-law's 90th birthday. 

The chant for Soul Call is the simple eight-syllable ashtakshara mantra...Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na, better known as the Narayana Kavacham. The eight syllables are said to correspond to the eight vital centers of the body...and the Narayana armor is said to form a protection for the body as the cell regeneration occurs. "I wanted to share the mantra Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na Ya in a way that all can sing it...and sing it joyfully; whether they know music or not...that is why I composed it in eight ragas...( eight syllables, eight ragas)," she explains. 

Soul Call was recorded both in India and the US, and it incorporates world-class musicianship and production. The album combines traditional Indian sounds such as sarod, sitar, and esraj with Western instruments such as piano, electric bass, and classical guitar. The music was been arranged by the sarod master Tejendra Narayan Majumdar with assistance from Snehasish Mojumder, the gifted mandolin player – both with many albums to their credit. Rakesh Chaurasia, the fabled flutist, has provided accompaniment on multiple tracks. Ablu Chakraborty and Soumen Sarkar provided the keyboard accompaniment. 

Soul Call has been a silent hit among the spiritual fraternity for some months now, but its nomination for Grammy is what has set the aficionados aflutter. But Chandrika is unfazed by the attention, marveling only at what the album is doing to ordinary people. The only Grammy-related excitement for her is that she is in the mix with several artists whose works she has admired for years. She is pitted against 13-time Grammy-winning composer and banjo player Bela Fleck, Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto, iconic singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo from Africa and classical pianist Sergio Mendes in her category. 

In fact, she is not even the only India-origin musician in the race for a Grammy this year, nor will she be the first if she wins. Music composer A R Rahman, sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar and tabla genius Zakir Hussain are among the Indians who have won a Grammy. In February last year, Rahman won two Grammys — for 'Best Film Song' and 'Best Soundtrack' — for composing the soundtrack of multiple Oscar-winning movie, 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Among others, India-origin composer Vijay Iyer has also been nominated for a Grammy this year under the 'Best Jazz Instrumental Album' category for his album "Historicity" and Delhi-based tabla player Sandeep Das is in the mix in the classical crossover category. She has never met fellow New Yorker Iyer, but heard his album after the Grammy nomination and sent him a note of congratulation. For Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon, pride and honor is just being part of the Indian spiritual heritage. 

Courtesy: TimesLife

Here are Our Wishes for You...

H ours of happy times with friends and family

A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!

May this year fulfill all your dreams and wishes.

-- Jai Prakash Pandey

Director,

--sbi-rseti ,Umaria

नव वर्ष की शुभकामनायें 2011

वर्ष २०११ सभी के लिए आनंदपूर्ण, स्वास्थयपूर्ण, प्रफ्फुल्लित, और परिपूर्ण हो, यही आप सभी के लिए हमारी शुभकामनाएं है।