Gary Hamel and others have come up with this great initiative and set up the Management Innovation Exchange (MIX). It is an open innovation project, aiming to bring about a revolution in management. The project is asking individuals to identify barriers, submit stories and suggest “hacks” or bold ideas for tackling management challenges.
I have proposed a hack – let’s look at sharing the cost of attrition between the HR and the individual manager, in order to build accountability for people management and engagement. Unless, people’s “P&Ls” are not affected directly, no one takes notice! Typically, HR bears the costs of attrition (training, recruitment etc.) from its own budget. But, isn’t the individual manager responsible for it too?
You can click on the screenshots below to directly go to my hack on the MIX website. And, please, if you like it, do rate it. And, in any case, I need your comments and inputs to build up this hack.
I mostly keep my writings focused on HR, Management, People and Technology, but from time to time I have the urge to write about larger issues – ways in which we can make a difference.
Some of you might have heard about Kiva – an organization founded by a passionate couple which allows people to lend money via the internet to fund microfinance institutions in developing countries, which in turn lend money to people in need of funds for small businesses. I simply loved the idea, but was a bit disappointed that they have not yet been able to develop this model strongly for India.
In comes Rang De, which makes a bold attempt to recreate the model in the Indian context. Here is a quick link from their website on what really is micro-credit. So, the concept is dead simple. Rang De puts up profiles of needy people on their site with details about the business they want to start. The business plans are simple – tea-kiosk, grocery store, weaving business, cattle rearing etc. Next, people like you & me review these profiles and provide the funds for these businesses. You can start with as low as Rs. 100 (USD 2). The micro-credit agencies collect all the funds and disburse them to the people, who then pay the money back to you in equal monthly installments (current repayment rate is 99% !!!). And yes, you earn a nominal 2% interest on your social investment. So, this is no donation, it is an investment. This is our opportunity to become social investors and earn much more than interest on our investments – an opportunity to change lives.
And, it’s all doable at the click of a button, without paperwork. So, whatever the occasion, rise up to it in a meaningful way – whether its birthdays, anniversaries, pay days, celebration of victory, festivals or simply a day when you feel passionate about doing something good. Support someone and let’s share better.
These days I have been working with a client to help design their executive education center for their leadership cadre. They want to provide trainees a world-class learning experience, not only in terms of quality of education, but also hospitality. They don’t even call them “trainees”, but call them “customers”. So, it’s like they want to create the Ritz Carlton of executive education.
I am yet to fully immerse myself in the project, but am working with a simple construct in my mind. Many times, when companies are looking at customer experience programs, they end up automating processes & setting policies which definitely ease internal operations, but may not directly translate into positive experiences for customers. That’s internal focus. My simple thought is that the process has to be reversed, with focusing first on what the customer experience should look like, how would positive interactions / touch-points look like and then think about what systems / processes are needed to get to the desired state.
So, a fancy CRM will not do the trick for you, if it has not been designed & implemented with the customer in mind.
