A few days ago, I had a meeting scheduled at the New Delhi office of one of the World’s largest IT companies. A Colleague was with me and we were slated to pitch for a certain business for my start up.
While we were entering the office a Security Guard accosted us, asking for our details while he eyed us suspiciously. I’d like to think that my Colleague’s Pink tie had something to do with it!
This man was supposed to collect our details and inform the Reception who would then ask the employee who we had an appointment with and on her approval we would be escorted to the reception. And till that time they expected us to stand and wait- there were no chairs! As luck would have it the lady at the reception was away. So for a good ten minutes we tried to reason in vain with the Security personnel that the minimum he could do was to let us in and offer us a seat in the reception area while we waited. The fellow did not relent!
The lady we had come to meet seemed to be perpetually busy on some other call on her mobile. So the sight of her rushing to the door was a welcome one. Shortly after she had rescued us, of course apologizing profusely for the wait we were subjected to, she seated us in the reception “for the next 5 minutes” in order to complete her call, while we performed the security formalities, this time in the reception area.
The Security Guard, who by this time had mellowed down at the sight of the official, helped us fill in our details in a register and asked us to provide some number from an identification issued by the Government. I some how resisted the temptation of what I usually do at such places; sign in my name as Sylvester Stallone (I just like the name, that we resemble, is purely coincidental). Most security guys here in India are happy as long as the process is followed. Not too different from any other part of the world, I’d think! You can get away with what ever you write as long as you fill in the register solemnly!
Eventually in the meeting, at the first instance, after the formalities of introduction were over, I couldn’t resist a shot at our host, “Is this a general practice to unnerve the Guests or were we dished out a special treatment? I would think that entering a nuclear facility in Iran would be a lot easier!” After another round of the customary apologies, she said that it was this unfortunate system that they had to follow.
Later in the evening, I was chatting with another friend of mine, working with a major Software Company and we got around to discussing our respective business travails. He cribbed that he was sick of many of his reports just wiling away time and not focusing on relevant activities. I probed further and found that I could relate his woes to my experience at the IT Giant’s Security in the morning.
You see most of the mega corps suffer from the evils of being over process driven! Consider an IT giant operating in 80 countries and many more locations- for them to have any semblance of sanity, they simply have to be backed by well-designed processes, Systems and Parameters. No one can take that away!
But each country is different and deserves a fair degree of independence in execution of these processes. I have more than reasonable doubt that this may even have prompted Percy Barnevik to utter those famous words that are today used almost as a cliché, “Think Global, Act Local!”
The trouble my friend is facing is that his reports have stopped using their brains to achieve solutions and rely on SOPs to do it for them. Unfortunately most employees start with using their intellect during the earlier stages of their career, only to have most ideas unceremoniously shot down by the other veteran SOP corrupted colleagues, until they join the hallowed community as full time proponents. Eventually the employees, the SOP and the Systems help create a maze where the employees look busy and keep employed while the company’s productivity is severely hampered.
Executives need to realize this sad though reversible trend and need to get their vision right. When I say Vision, I do not mean those lofty statements that you find in the company websites and across other communication platforms. All businesses by definition are there to make money. Therefore the first Vision of any business is to make money ethically. However when it comes to executing this rather simple idea, the paradigm shifts.
Answer these truthfully, “Would your attitude towards making money for the company differ, if you were the owner of the business and responsible for all collections and payouts and that too within a defined time frame? How much SOP driven would you then, like to be? Would you then challenge it till you made sure that it did not get in the way of making money and at best remained a support to and not the key driver of Business? Is it going to be SOP over innovation for you?"
Back to our security problem! If there were ever a serious terrorist threat to the swank IT office, I am reasonably sure that the perpetrators would aim at the entire building and not some few thousand square feet of leased area. Perhaps it might make sense for all the occupants to have a combined hi-tech security right at the entrance of the building? This would take away a lot of nonsensical procedures in all the occupying companies- similar MNCs!!
But hey! We'll need a new entry on the SOP then ;) g the office a Security Guard accosted us, asking for our details while he eyed us suspiciously. I’d like to think that my Colleague’s Pink tie had something to do with it!
This man was supposed to collect our details and inform the Reception who would then ask the employee who we had an appointment with and on her approval we would be escorted to the reception. And till that time they expected us to stand and wait- there were no chairs! As luck would have it the lady at the reception was away. So for a good ten minutes we tried to reason in vain with the Security personnel that the minimum he could do was to let us in and offer us a seat in the reception area while we waited. The fellow did not relent!
The lady we had come to meet seemed to be perpetually busy on some other call on her mobile. So the sight of her rushing to the door was a welcome one. Shortly after she had rescued us, of course apologizing profusely for the wait we were subjected to, she seated us in the reception “for the next 5 minutes” in order to complete her call, while we performed the security formalities, this time in the reception area.
The Security Guard, who by this time had mellowed down at the sight of the official, helped us fill in our details in a register and asked us to provide some number from an identification issued by the Government. I some how resisted the temptation of what I usually do at such places; sign in my name as Sylvester Stallone (I just like the name, that we resemble, is purely coincidental). Most security guys here in India are happy as long as the process is followed. Not too different from any other part of the world, I’d think! You can get away with what ever you write as long as you fill in the register solemnly!
Eventually in the meeting, at the first instance, after the formalities of introduction were over, I couldn’t resist a shot at our host, “Is this a general practice to unnerve the Guests or were we dished out a special treatment? I would think that entering a nuclear facility in Iran would be a lot easier!” After another round of the customary apologies, she said that it was this unfortunate system that they had to follow.
Later in the evening, I was chatting with another friend of mine, working with a major Software Company and we got around to discussing our respective business travails. He cribbed that he was sick of many of his reports just wiling away time and not focusing on relevant activities. I probed further and found that I could relate his woes to my experience at the IT Giant’s Security in the morning.
You see most of the mega corps suffer from the evils of being over process driven! Consider an IT giant operating in 80 countries and many more locations- for them to have any semblance of sanity, they simply have to be backed by well-designed processes, Systems and Parameters. No one can take that away!
But each country is different and deserves a fair degree of independence in execution of these processes. I have more than reasonable doubt that this may even have prompted Percy Barnevik to utter those famous words that are today used almost as a cliché, “Think Global, Act Local!”
The trouble my friend is facing is that his reports have stopped using their brains to achieve solutions and rely on SOPs to do it for them. Unfortunately most employees start with using their intellect during the earlier stages of their career, only to have most ideas unceremoniously shot down by the other veteran SOP corrupted colleagues, until they join the hallowed community as full time proponents. Eventually the employees, the SOP and the Systems help create a maze where the employees look busy and keep employed while the company’s productivity is severely hampered.
Executives need to realize this sad though reversible trend and need to get their vision right. When I say Vision, I do not mean those lofty statements that you find in the company websites and across other communication platforms. All businesses by definition are there to make money. Therefore the first Vision of any business is to make money ethically. However when it comes to executing this rather simple idea, the paradigm shifts.
Answer these truthfully, “Would your attitude towards making money for the company differ, if you were the owner of the business and responsible for all collections and payouts and that too within a defined time frame? How much SOP driven would you then, like to be? Would you then challenge it till you made sure that it did not get in the way of making money and at best remained a support to and not the key driver of Business? Is it going to be SOP over innovation for you?"
Back to our security problem! If there were ever a serious terrorist threat to the swank IT office, I am reasonably sure that the perpetrators would aim at the entire building and not some few thousand square feet of leased area. Perhaps it might make sense for all the occupants to have a combined hi-tech security right at the entrance of the building? This would take away a lot of nonsensical procedures in all the occupying companies- similar MNCs!!
But hey! We'll need a new entry on the SOP then ;)
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