Recently, I helped conduct a training programme aimed at looking at existing entrepreneurship and building on it in a team of managers in a leading bank. What struck me was the extreme efficiency of the team. They were performing at peak, yet there was little excitement in the group.
As the programme evolved, and we looked at different ways of understanding the preferences and choices of the team, it became increasingly clear that there were dreams and highly charged emotions bottled up in the group. Their perception of their working boundaries was of one that didn’t allow for mistakes, and their mode of operations was SAFE. While thier high efficiency ensured sustained performance, the monotony was literally strangling the life-giving forces in this vertical.
An incredible point in this programme came toward the end, where one of their seniors visited briefly, and during one of his conversations with the group, put it bluntly - “business is about going with your gut. There aren’t always logical explanations and guarantees. Sometimes you do things because you want to do them.”
Looking at this guy as he spoke was an experience of freshness, lightness and excitement about the work. There was none of the heavy air of confinement and no second-guesses about results. Just a happy acceptance of sheer temptation of certain exciting possibilities and a willingness to invest image and effort into making them work.
Unsaid at that time, I registered what I found different about this happy man who actually had far more responsibilities than the others - this was a businessman, not a manager.
I extend this philosophy to all I do in my life - if it doesn’t excite me, my investment of effort is not going to satisfy me, no matter what it is. Some things I may do out of necessity, but it is important not to lose track of priorities - it is the excitement where my focus needs to be.
When I work with small businesses, it is one of the greatest challenges to find such engagement. The fear of failure suffocates and overcomes all the charm of getting into it in the first place. The key is to know that failure will happen, but it is the opportunity that we need to keep our sights on.
Ownership isn’t only about owning responsibility and protecting. Ownership is also the commitment to take things ahead because it is the owner’s dream.
by Sushil Bhasin, on August 13 2008 @ 11:20 pm
Thats a valuable learning.
When we work within SAFE parameters, we perform, BUT cant achieve an outstanding result. The Fear of Failure vs Hope of Success need to be finely balanced. An element of risk (calculated) taking capability is an important ingredient of sustained success.
by Vidyut Kale, on August 15 2008 @ 1:39 am
Awesome, isn’t it? This guy just sat there and talked about going with the gut feel to a group that had been struggling with their own inhibitions for two days that they excused in the name of the senior management. And here was their senior sitting there cross legged, happy as a kid in a candy shop and just as excited at the whole thought of temptation….
You should have been there. You’d have rolled on the floor laughing.