<p><em>It is imperative that a diagnostic be done and shared ownership created across the spectrum of the organisation, writes </em><strong><em>Debabrata Mukherjee</em></strong><br><br>When life thorws you lemons, make yourself a glass of lemonade. However, if you feel like being in the crusher yourself, how does one squeeze out any juice at all? The question is: who put Janki in the crusher?<br><br>Apologies, if I hurt anyone’s feelings, but I have to put Teffer Worldwide in the dock. It has a super resource in Janki and while continuing to load her with responsibilities, it has hijacked her life.<br><br>Janki, however, is suffering from the classical Stockholm Syndrome and has a high level of empathy towards her hijackers. A dedicated employee, Janki has continued to put her professional chores ahead of her personal ones. This can last a season but not a lifetime.<br><br><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/Debabrata-Mukherjee-Debu-Coca-cola-mdm.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px; float: right; margin: 4px;">Can the organisation help? It can, both in the short as well as in the long term.<br><br>First, it must do a thorough evaluation of the role that Janki is performing and assess whether it is too much for her. Multiple stakeholders working across time zones on a diverse set of projects is not unique to an employee but I wonder if Janki has got too much on her plate.<br><br>After assessment, either re-distribute her role into more manageable verticals and appoint more people or ensure that they help Janki create a set of capable direct reports who can take appropriate business calls. This will require a huge amount of focus and capability building as today Janki is managing a wide span of authority and it won’t be easy to replicate the skill set. It is evident, if for any reason, Janki is unable to attend to her duties for an extended period of time, there is a clear lack of succession planning. It is therefore imperative that the organisation actively creates a succession roadmap so that Janki can further her career.<br><br>Second, evaluate the current processes in the organisation and look for opportunities to drive further efficiency. Currently, all the meetings, training programmes et al have a tonality of “the organisation will come to a stop if it does not happen’’. This has to change. There has to be a better planning process and higher level of respect for individual time slots. Although stringent audit processes have been put in place to check whether the planned programmes have been carried out or not as borne out by the call that Janki had with Hector at 10 p.m. IST, there is no one auditing how she lives her life. She is up till 4 a.m.<br><br>speaking with the Australian team and then is expected to check out 100 e-mails after a two-hour nap. My humble question is: Who is in charge of analysing whether there are processes in place to drive people efficiency so that they do not feel like they are being driven up the wall? A case in point is the security and safety training that was aligned with her, that did not happen and there were no checks or alerts until audit raised the issue and all hell broke loose. This is a clear case of process breakdown.<br><br>Third, commission an engagement survey to test for the level of ownership that exists in the company. It seems the high level of commitment that Janki shows is not shared by the wider organisation. The CIO cannot change his schedule, Hector cannot take a call at an inconvenient hour but Janki continues to put the professional before personal. She misses out on a prayer meeting of someone who was very dear to her, gets annoyed with her Mom who dotes on her selflessly, forgets to book personal air tickets — all for the cause of the company. The facts of the case clearly bear out the fact that most of her colleagues are operating at a much lower level of engagement and lack of a sense of responsibility. It is imperative that a diagnostic be done and shared ownership created across the spectrum of the organisation.<br><br>As the organisation does the medium to long term diagnostics, for the short term, they need to exhibit a singular trait, which is sorely lacking in the organisation — Empathy.<br><br>When Hector says, “Who doesn’t have a tough day?” he is exhibiting a huge culture issue that exists in the organisation — lack of empathy. Janki would feel far more enthused despite her punishing schedule if the organisation showed her a caring face. An occasional “How is your mother doing?” or “Are you too stretched, can we help?” can go a long way in re-energising the superstar performer.</p><p><br>It is time for some serious soul searching, Teffer Worldwide.<br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 10-08-2015)</p>
