Count the threads

Multi-tasking as a skill set has fallen out of favor with the higher echelon of HR Gurus. Suddenly with all the Zen teachings floating around we have figured it out that the human brain is not wired for multi-tasking, hence all activities done in this mode may not contribute positively to the final goal.

Obviously what’s good for the CPU is not good for humans.

Creativity is supposed to be at its maximum when we are immersed into something to such an extent that nothing else can interrupt us. We must be totally aware of the situation, of the act, and every moment of that act to ensure flow of creativity.

But, CEOs/Managers all over the world have at least a dozen threads running every moment, and they are expected to respond to any situation in minimum possible time whereas take a trip to any of the Sarkari offices or facility counters- the babus/clerks across the table are ‘Vedanti’ in their approach to work, they remain totally engrossed in their work like stamping, putting glue, making an entry into the register, sipping tea, reading newspaper, talking back home or any other such great activity which has the potential of changing the world order, but the fact remains that you just can’t get their attention unless they are finished with what they are doing. You feel like crying out – For heavens sake why can’t you multi-task a little?

So now that we know who is the most creative person in the hierarchy there is another controversial issue I’d like to discuss. Some years back it was found that women are better managers because they can multi-task.

Any update on that?

see oh...

The Principal was shocked, 33 students had failed in Mathematics and out of them 20 had failed in Science too in the pre-board examination. She had conducted a meeting before the pre-boards and based on the past performance the teachers had pointed out there were only 3 or 4 slow learners. Suddenly she was facing an uphill task of ensuring a cent per cent result for the school and to top it all this was her first year as the principal.

The CEO of another company had just thrown out the GM from one of the facilities, and in his first meeting with the new GM, he mentioned that they were facing too many client rejections in the last quarter. The new GM went back and conducted a test to check the quality and production efficiency among his production staff, and to his big surprise found that more than 50% were croppers. All of them were thrown out.

Two different stories, but the lessons learned from them are similar. Too much dependence on MIS has reduced heads of units and organizations to just monitors of dashboards. It needs to be understood that people will show their reporting authorities only what is palatable while the dark and murkier side will always be under eclipse. In both the above cases the responsibility of ensuring that the reports truly represented the ground situation lied with the unit heads. Most unit heads are comfortable with whatever information is provided by their managers because they don’t want to dirty their hands. Another excuse is apprehension regarding micro-management. In the above two cases it’s clear that implementation of proper checks and balances could have prevented the sudden catastrophe. And yes, having a mechanism to corroborate information is not micro-management.

KM

"You can manage only what you own."

Organizations need to wake up to this fact even before they contemplate about KM. How an organization manages to increase its stake in the unstructured or yet undiscovered knowledge base can be left to their own judgement, but an actual effort towards this should be visible for individuals and communities to start un-buttoning their camouflage.

IT, CA, and the JV

Sep. 30 has taken a toll on life and blogging. The dreaded IT return date will not be extended this time, as there haven’t been any changes in the framework, though a one month extension has been given to Bihar & JK due to socio-political issues. IT returns- this is another area where the laws of Murphy are very active. My CA, poor soul, he starts reminding me from the month of June about this impending date, but year after year, i always manage to reach this point wherein everything has to be done on a yesterday basis.

I've been spending the last few weeks at the CA's office. The journey of the raw data to the audited balance sheet is quite fascinating. But, the problem is that i don't enjoy it even though i'm reasonably well versed with it. CA's are an amazing breed, their calm and composure even when you take a problem to them which you thought would make you poorer by a few lacs or crores (depending upon your engagement) beats me, and the best part is they always have a solution. So most of the time you will find happy faces emerging out from a CA's cabin unless some one has been caught in a scrutiny.

I'll take this opportunity to praise someone who has stayed with me all along through the rough and the smooth and has delivered unflinchingly every year. Tally. I think it's the best product that has emerged from any of the small-medium software development houses. It's blazing fast, amazingly simple and user-friendly. I still remember that it took just 4 hours to make my dad proficient in Tally when he decided to computerize his office accounts. I'm looking forward to explore the latest versions.

While we are at this thing about CAs and accounts, i'll not overlook another master tool. The JV. What's a CA without the JV? It's the master key for every problem. In the final run towards the BS it's the handiest tool. For most of my questions born out of ignorance there is one standard answer- 'JV pass karna padega'. So, pass that JV before you fail.