I dream of a Digital India which can provide proof of my existence

Last month, during an auspicious moment , I discovered that my annuity payment ( as part of my first company's superannuation scheme) is due on 1st July . I had opted for ECS payment of annuity , but never bothered to check whether it got credited to my account every year. But this time, I wanted to check it without fail. As the amount was not credited till 3 PM , I called up the Insurance company to know the status of it. After making some 10 calls and speaking to 5 different people, one person was kind enough to give me the mobile number of the person who takes care of annuity. A second attempt to that mobile number  got me connected to the right person.

"Sir, I am Sindhu Marath . I have a query regarding my annuity"

"Who gave you my mobile number ? "

 It was a moment of truth. The person who gave me the mobile number was kind to me , but not to his colleague :-)

"Sir, I got it from your colleague. My annuity , which is due today,  is not yet credited to my account. "

"If it is due today, you need to wait till evening or tomorrow. "

"Fine Sir. But I am not sure whether it got credited to my account in previous years. Could you please check and confirm ? "

A bit reluctantly, he checked the status and revealed that shocking truth to me !

Annuity is not being paid to me since 2009.

"But Sir,  is there any reason for non-payment "

"Madam, you have not provided us the certificate of your existence without which we can't pay annuity"

Another moment of truth !!!

As part of the company's process, every 5 years ( in some cases it is every year), the annuitant is expected to provide a certificate of existence. Null hypothesis is that after the specified period, the annuitant is non-existent unless proven otherwise.

"Sir, I did not know about such a requirement. What needs to be done to provide  the certificate of existence ? "

"You need to download the form from our website, fill it , get it attested and send to us "

Call got disconnected.

Now, I need to personally appear before a Gazetted Officer to prove my existence. There is no database which shows I am alive. Or even if it is there in some form, it is not accepted as is . The amount of time and effort needed to prove and verify my existence is not small and so is the case with all other annuitants.

I dream of a digital India which can provide proof for my  existence .

I dream of a digital India where in the click of a button gives the proof of my (our) identity, age, qualification ,address, income status and all other relevant information.

Hope that initiatives like Aadhar would help in creating and maintaining  a central system and database with all the relevant details of the citizens and which is accessible to all public and private organizations with appropriate access ,privacy and security controls. 

The systems and processes of both private and public organizations need to undergo necessary changes to access and accept this central data for their transactions. 

Instant access to data  could lead to  instant approval  of new mobile connections, loans , insurance policies, continued annuity payment and so on.

It also results in  substantial effort savings for the organizations which could be used for much more productive work.

Imagine , if one could update a change in address in just one central system and synchronize it with all the relevant accounts, policies and other records one holds , in no time and  with no hassles !

The benefits are multi-fold - from faster approvals to faster realization of our dreams.

Hope that our digital highways would take us to new levels of unity, transparency, equality and efficiency .

Mentoring - A selfless Act Like That of a Mother to Bring up Her Child

“What picture do you have on top of your mind when you think about mentoring?”
The question was from a senior leader who was facilitating a workshop for us - voluntary mentors for a mentorship program planned for hearing impaired students of a reputed institute as part of the organization’s inclusivity initiative.

“Steps to go up”, someone said.

“Krishna counselling Arjuna – the “Geetopadesha”, I said.

Each one of us had a different picture about mentoring. But the essence of all pictures was one and the same – the success of the mentee.

“Mentoring is a selfless act, like that of a mother to bring up her child”, our facilitator added.

That analogy was indeed very true. Who else in the world could give you selfless and unconditional love and care than your own mother? Who else could be a better mentor than one’s own mother in the early stages of one’s life?

Every mother encourages her toddler to walk even if she falls many times. She helps her little one to talk with tremendous patience even if she mispronounces it umpteen numbers of times. The little darling does not give up her attempt to walk and talk because her mother taught her to overcome the failures with a laugh. Her mother rewards her with warm hugs and kisses for every attempt made to move forward.
As life goes on, one has to be lucky to have good mentors. In earlier days, teachers in schools used to be great mentors. They were respected not just for their knowledge but for their ability to touch the children’s lives in positive ways. Today, you don’t find many such great teachers because no one has time for any one. The goal of achieving 100% pass rate takes away the time needed to pat the children on their shoulders.

It is no different in organizations too.
I was somewhat lucky to have come across few good mentors in my life- be it personal or professional.
I am not sure whether Generation Y would be lucky to have good mentors.
Today, it is a fact that you don’t find many good mentors in organizations.  It is not just lack of time but the lack of mentoring skills too. Goals of todays' managers are mostly speed and cost and who gets rewarded for mentoring? Team size reduction and mentoring are anyways contradictory objectives :-)

These days, it is also common in organizations to identify some senior leaders specifically with the goal of mentoring , at least for some selected mentees- an act which used to be done by one's own managers earlier.The middle managers need to be mentored not just for their own success but also for equipping themselves to mentor the future leaders. But  the reality is that we have only very few leaders today who are capable of mentoring. Lack of mentoring would definitely have an impact on the leadership skills of future leaders. But who knows Gen Y may even try to solve this problem with robotic mentors :-)

Women do naturally possess the qualities needed for good mentors whether as a mother or as a professional - qualities bestowed on them by the Mother Nature. But it is also true that women need to have good mentors to go up the ladder in their careers. This does not mean that men don’t need mentors to move up. They do need. But they find their mentors more easily than women.

Mentoring is indeed a selfless act – something essential for building good individuals, communities and organizations. 

Innovative Products, But Irritating Services ???

A bit of flashback – Two and half years ago

I was at the service centre of a company who grabbed the leadership position in the mobile phone market due to its smart and innovative handsets. My mobile handset was refusing to switch on beyond few seconds even after charging it fully. It was little more than 6 months since I became the proud owner of a smart phone. I was almost sure that the battery was dead and I would have to shell out some money to buy a new one as the battery warranty was for 6 months only.

The “patient” was taken inside for the initial diagnostics. After a few minutes of waiting, the technician came out.

“Madam, this seems to be battery issue. We fix only software related issues here. You need to take this to another service centre”, said the technician.

I had no other choice than driving to the busiest road in the city. I walked into the company owned service centre itself hoping that they fix hardware issues too.

But their response shocked me, “Madam, you need to take it to “ABC” service centre right opposite to this building as we don’t fix hardware issues here”

Somehow I could not digest the fact that the company which manufactures the product – consisting of both hardware and software- does not provide hardware service in its own service centres!!

But soon it struck me that I could be wrong. I belong to a generation who runs for repair if something goes faulty. In today’s world of use and throw, no one really bothers to repair anything, especially a smart phone. Every six months a new model is available in the market, so the “old” ones are thrown out or given to kids for playing, how much ever costly it may be. The parts of the mobile handset become obsolete in a year’s time or even less! One is considered to be outdated if one does not own any of the latest smart phones! So, how could I expect company owned service centre to offer hardware repair service?

I walked into the third service centre. It was on the top most floor of a four storeyed building. I had the second shock of the day as I entered the service centre. I could not believe that the authorized service centre of a multinational company could look so shabby. Did I enter into a wrong place? I came out and looked at the board hung at the entrance, once again. Yes, I was at the right place but with a wrong ambience.

Packing cartons were thrown at almost all the corners of the small hall. They had neither A/C nor fans .May be the A/C was switched off or not working. There was no reception, no token system, and no queue system for customers. I was wondering whom to approach. That is when I heard heated arguments from a foyer which separated the hall and the handset repair room. I could see one lady sitting and sweating beside a table trying to calm down a group of angry customers. I also managed to somehow enter the foyer. The customers were shouting as many of them had not received the repaired handsets even after a month. The lady was trying to explain to them that they had only one technician and hence the delay. One of the customers wanted to talk to their manager. But he was absconding.

‘How could I give my handset to such a place for repair’, I wondered.

‘Is there any other authorized service centre which does hardware repair in the city?’ I asked one of the customers.

‘No, this is the only one’, he said.

I was wondering what to do. I had to wait for some time to talk to the lady there. I did express my apprehension to the lady and asked her why the service was so bad. I understood from her that the service centre was getting closed down in a month. I had no choice but to hand over the handset there for repair. Though they promised to deliver the handset after 10 days, I had no hopes.

Half of my day was wasted visiting 3 service centres. I logged a customer feedback in the company portal expressing my dissatisfaction over the lousy service provided by such a market leader. But I did not receive any response. That explained why their service was bad. But I wondered whether innovative products alone could sustain market leadership for a company?

To my luck, they did deliver the handset to me after 10 days. But the climax had a twist. I was all prepared to pay for the new battery when I visited the service centre to collect my handset. But to my surprise, the issue was related to software - an  issue which the software service centres could not diagnose or most probably they did not try to diagnose it properly. But, this was not a matter of surprise to me, thanks to my long association with product development teams in one way or other. Software and hardware teams are like ruling and opposition parties, who like to pass on the blame to each other. Which team owns the issue is a bigger issue than the actual issue faced by the customer and in the whole process the fix gets delayed!

My previous mobile handset was from a company who had enjoyed leadership position in market for a very long time mainly because of the quality of its products and services. But they lost their position in market due to theinnovative smart phones launched by its competitor- the company for which I lost all my regards due to its pathetic service.

In a years’ time from then , I saw another company launching innovative as well as cost effective smart phones, grabbing most of the Indian market share from the existing big players in market which probably no one ever imagined. This proved once again that success today does not guarantee future market leadership. Leadership position is always open for those who strive for it!

While product innovation is one of the keys for successful business, it is also important to take care of overall customer experience.

• Value for money lies not just in the product but in the end to end customer experience – from branding to sales to service.
• Innovation is needed not just in the product but in all the associated processes and systems to ensure timely delivery, excellent after sales support and customer satisfaction.
• It is important that the systems which gather data from customers also have the ability to analyse it fast and turn into actions! It should have the ability to hear him, shake hands with him and even hug him!
• A superior product with superior service definitely leads to success, but this also needs customer centric culture at all levels in an organization.

Watermelons Every Day Keep The Customer Away

It was about one and half years ago. I was to visit Bangalore for a three day official trip. As my morning flight got delayed, I reached B’lore around noon. My stay was arranged in a business hotel near to my office.I checked into the hotel. The room was spacious and good. I decided to have lunch from the hotel itself. The bearers in the restaurant were very friendly and they showed 100% justice to “service with a smile”. Lunch was not all that good for me as they had very limited choices of vegetarian dishes in the buffet.

My colleagues had planned a dinner that evening with the newly joined account head in the restaurant of the hotel where I stayed and I was also invited for it. My opinion was to choose another restaurant based on my experience of having lunch there. But since I had no clue on the non-vegetarian dishes, I did not express my opinion strongly.

Around 8.30 PM, we all were at the restaurant in my hotel. After having soup and starters, we moved to the buffet table to take other dishes. I noticed that all the items on the buffet table, including the fruits and deserts, were same as the ones they served for lunch! I tried to have a second look to confirm. The watermelon pieces on the desert table smiled at me confirming that I was right. Most of my colleagues were non-vegetarians and they seemed to enjoy the dinner. I was struggling to finish the items on my plate and my colleague sitting next to me asked whether I did not like the dinner as well. I smiled at him and replied, “The menu for lunch and dinner seem to be the same. May be, they have served the leftover lunch for dinner”. The chicken piece in his hand had a momentary pause on its way to his mouth as he was digesting what I said. He could not resist himself from sharing that fact with others . It took couple of minutes for everyone to come to terms with it.

After the dinner, the bearer came to our table with the restaurant feedback forms.If there are more stakeholders in the client’s organization, typically feedback is provided only after consultation with the most dissatisfied stakeholder. Here also, the situation was no different. Everyone wanted me to give the feedback as I was the most dissatisfied customer. But I suggested to fill two separate feedback forms as I felt that my feedback won’t represent the opinion of the entire team because they were not as dissatisfied as me. While my colleague gave a neutral rating for overall food quality, I gave an extremely dissatisfied rating for it with a comment, “Please do not serve leftover lunch for dinner”. Within seconds of receiving the feedback, the bearer boy came running to me and asked me smilingly why I gave such a low rating. I smiled and asked him to read the comment given. He neither accepted nor denied my feedback. He wanted me to talk to the restaurant manager the next day.

Next day morning, I was in a hurry to get ready for office. My habit of checking the expiry dates of items made me realize that I was provided with a shampoo bottle which had expired 6 months back. When informed, housekeeping team got me another bottle, but with the same expiry date. I did not understand how they could make the same mistake twice. I called them up again and they replied, “Madam, Sorry, this is what we have in our stock. We need to request for a new stock now”. At last , they chose to be transparent with the customer as there was no other way left. I did not want to take the risk of using expired shampoo fearing that it would even bleach my hair to grey instead of cleaning it and so, went to office without washing my hair.

When I returned to my hotel in the evening, I was greeted by two gentlemen who were standing at the lobby, dressed up in full suit, their faces glowing with wide smiles. It looked like they were competing with each other on who can smile wider. I kind of assumed that they were part of the hotel management team. I greeted them back and went to my room hoping to find a new shampoo bottle, but was highly disappointed to see the old one there. I did not want to waste time again talking to the housekeeping team, so rushed back to the company campus to buy one from the store inside the campus. The store was about to close as it was 8 PM, but could manage to buy one. When I returned to the hotel, I did express my disappointment to the person in the reception as they failed to act on such a small issue -an issue as small as providing a new shampoo bottle. I felt thatbare minimum customer should be informed if they could not take timely action so that customer could plan for an alternate resolution. He promised to take action, but I told him that it was not required as the issue was resolved. Within half an hour, the housekeeping boy was at the door of my room with some sachets of shampoo which they managed to buy from somewhere.

I went down to the restaurant for dinner. As soon as I entered the restaurant, the bearer boy came running to me and insisted that I should meet the general manager or the restaurant manager. And there he was - the restaurant manager- the guy whom I met at the lobby. He wanted to talk to me about my feedback on food quality. Yes, it was a post feedback discussion between the customer and the service provider.

He clarified to me that they did not serve leftover lunch for dinner; it was just that the menu was same. But they prepare it all fresh for the dinner ! That was really hard to believe !

I smiled and asked him, “When you take all the pain to prepare it fresh, why don’t you have a different menu for the dinner? “

He replied, “Ma’am, you know, we also need to manage our costs. “

Today, cost reduction is something we hear in almost every organization. And many a times the cost reduction strategies are penny wise and pound foolish.

I replied, “I don’t think that offering a good choice for food would increase your cost. Of course, it is your internal issue which you need to manage. What I expect is value for my money.”

He seemed to be more keen about cost management. But, at the same time, he did not want to have a complaining customer. So, the next option was to manage the complaining customer.

Another option was put forward to me, “Ma’am, in case you want something special for dinner, you could tell us and we would prepare it for you and only for you. ”

What a wonderful deal ! He looked at me for a positive response.

"But what about your other customers ? I don't want to have any special treatments", I replied.

He must have thought what a customer I was ! Why should this lady worry about other customers ?

His smile faded away when I rejected his offer outright as I was not interested to enjoy anything special just because I complained.

The discussion was not fruitful for him. I went ahead with the dinner. After the main course, I proceeded to have some fruits and desert. The watermelons kept on the desert table smiled at me. But, they looked pale. When I tasted them, I understood why they looked pale. They were sick. They were rotten. May be, they were leftover pieces from the previous day ! I requested the restaurant manager to taste them. He had no choice but to recall the product.

The next day, I had dinner from the restaurant nearby. Of course, watermelons every day keep the customer away.

When I was checking out, the lady at the reception requested me to fill the overall feedback form . I told her that I had already provided feedback in various forms. This is another thing which happens in organizations. The same customer gets bombarded with multiple feedback forms because it is part of the process. Understanding the real root causes and taking the right set of actions lacks adequate attention sometimes , the reasons in some cases being internal policies and constraints.

I was least interested to fill one more feedback form. When action is not taken for the feedback already given, why to provide one more? So, I politely refused.

Only one out of 10 dissatisfied customers complain and they are the ones who actually help the organizations improve. Real improvement takes place not by managing customers but by effective management of the complaints. Internal policies and constraints whatsoever , should not adversely impact the products or services offered by the organizations. Organizations definitely need to manage their costs. But Cost reduction cannot be at the cost of losing customers.It needs to be done in a much more thoughtful and innovative way without compromising on the value provided to the customers. While It is important to build relationship with your customers, it is even more important to build your products and services right.

THE ART OF COACHING

Some of us coach others as part of our work. Almost all of us have been coachees (one who receives training) at some point or other- be it at work or outside it. A coach is successful if he or she is able to help the coachee to achieve the set goal. But how many such coaches do we come across in our lives when coaching style is almost forgotten by most leaders!

I am sure that all of you remember the coaches who made great impact on your lives and so do I.

I am not going to talk about any business leader here but a level-headed driving instructor who helped me to achieve auto- mobility, essential for a working woman.

If you don’t mind reading a story, continue reading :-)

It took three years and two repeat courses for me to get a valid license five years ago!

The first time I joined a driving school was in 2006 with absolutely no clue on this art. But I was clear that I wanted to drive manual transmission cars.

The instructor introduced me to the foot pedals - Accelerator, Brake and Clutch and told me that the right foot should be used for pressing the accelerator and the brake. Of course, this arrangement guarantees that the accelerator is released as the driver brakes. But as a learner, I was worried about the reverse scenario – pressing accelerator by mistake instead of brake and the potential threat it can cause for others and me . I successfully mitigated this risk by removing my footwear so that I could feel accelerator and brake properly. I made the first day of my driving class highly memorable for my instructor and me when I broke the indicator rod after my first attempt to turn the indicator on. To my surprise, the instructor did not shout at me. I justified myself, “I thought that turning on indicator also needed same force as changing gears”. Though he told me that I would have to pay for my mistake, his smile indicated that I did not have to . The very first day itself he understood clearly that as a coach , he had challenging days ahead !

His patient coaching and appreciations from time to time increased my level of confidence so much so that I thought of driving my friend’s car when he visited my home. After starting the car I realized that we should plant more trees on the roads as they also have a function of stopping the vehicles and thus preventing damage to the compound walls of the houses. Needless to say, my confidence level had a steep fall, almost similar to the biggest ever crash in the stock market. Adding to my woes, my instructor changed. The new guy was not good at his behavior due to which I decided to put an end to my driving classes. Though the school offered me to send the previous instructor, I somehow lost the drive to drive and discontinued the classes.

A year later, I had to relocate to my home town. I decided to pursue my driving classes once again as I wanted to be have better “personal mobility”.

My colleague introduced me to a driving school where they had structured curriculum – theory, simulator classes, followed by on road practice sessions. They were truly professional! That of course impressed me being a quality professional.

Theory classes were very good. My practical sessions started. First day was peaceful. Second day, the engine of my vehicle stalled suddenly at a busy signal and all my attempts to start the car failed. The vehicles behind started honking. The drivers of the vehicles behind mine managed to somehow cross the signal, but they did perform the typical Bharatanatyam (A classical dance form in India) steps with their hands to convey their irritation to me. But I did not pay much attention to it as I was busy with my moon walk step using my left and right foot to somehow start the vehicle. The lady instructor, who appeared to be friendly till that moment, suddenly started yelling at me. The more she yelled, the more the engine refused to start.

At that moment, I understood why my son felt bad whenever I tried to teach him and his words echoed in my ears, “Why are you shouting at me when I make simple mistakes? “

The driving school maintains a progress card which details the modules to be covered each day and the rating of the learner against each. The “1/5” for “starting the vehicle” giggled at me.

After two days, my instructor changed. Topic was to “drive on uphill”. Objective was to start the car on an uphill road without causing it to roll down. He gave me two options - one using hand brake and other by managing clutch and accelerator. I looked at him to know which one would best suit me- an under performer. But his merciless face indicated that I should not waste time applying Pugh Matrix (a structured approach which is used to select the best option) to select the best option. I chose option 1 and 2 one after the other and failed miserably. By the time, the allotted one hour was over. On the way back to the school, the guy took the driver’s seat only to demonstrate his driving skills which irritated me even more. The 1’s and 2’s in my progress card suggested me not to appear for the driving test.

I felt that driving was the most complex job in the world which needs utmost concentration and co-ordination of all vehicle controls. I started admiring all drivers. I never complained when the auto rickshaw (three-wheeler) drivers asked me for more fare. After all, driving is a complex job.

A year later, I had to shift my residence and commuting to office became more and more difficult. I decided to join the same driving school again. This time determined to somehow get a license. Three classes were over without much problem. Fourth day my instructor changed. I drove the vehicle for 5 minutes and reached a small lane. The instructor asked me to stop the vehicle. I looked at him with a question mark on my face.

He smiled and told me, “Ma'am, this steering needs only a gentle touch and does not need any muscle power. So, relax all your muscles and start the vehicle with a smile”.

I burst into laughter. As usual, my vehicle stalled in the middle of the road and the bus behind started honking. He was cool and told me not to worry.

He told “It happens to all learners. Don’t worry about honking. Take your time and start the car”.

I was not under pressure this time. After two attempts, I successfully started the car. At last, I was lucky to have the right coach ! I requested the driving school to have him as my instructor. I had to go through complex modules - U-turn, driving uphill, parallel parking. But he handled all those with his humor and wit and did not create any tension for me. I gradually overcame the fear of driving. We shared the same objective – make me a confident driver.

I was not bothered about my grades this time as I was sure that one day I would anyway learn this art- art of driving.

On the final day of the classes he asked me, “Did you buy a pair of sun glasses?”

I did not understand. He said, “Ma'am, you are going to get your license soon. Keep your sun glasses ready and drive in style”.

I have been driving for the past five years and of course, many thanks to my wonderful instructor.

Coaching is an art. While structured design, assessments and constant feedback are must have for coaching; a coach plays a significant role for coaching to be effective. A real coach is one who is knowledgeable, calm, instills confidence in coachee, gives constructive feedback and sincerely wishes for the success of the coachee. At the same time, coachees also need to develop the perseverance and determination to accomplish the set goal, no matter the kind of challenges they need to face. Effective coaching turns around under performers to better performers. Needless to say, it benefits all –be it people, organizations or society.