The Hindu Business Line : That winning feeling

As I write this, the Beijing Olympics are a receding memory. Ahbinav Bindra has done India proud with a gold medal , the first ever individual gold medal for our country. Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Kumar have performed heroically by winning bronze medals.

The Indian Olympic story seems to have finally started to happen. The sad part is when you hear that Bindra’s march to glory, which began almost 12 years ago, was almost completely funded by his father. Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Kumar, though, have risen breaking all the moulds and all the barriers imposed by a supremely unsupportive sports administration.

The media has focused on Bindra, while the Government and corporates have vied with each other in announcing gifts for him. The funny thing is that many have no connection with the sport of shooting or with Bindra; just a matter of hitching a ride on the coattails of a rising star. Something very similar is starting to happen to Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Kumar also.

Something familiar in all this? You bet. The corporate world is equally driven by big success and the winners get lots of goodies. One of the critical mandates of any senior management team is to spot, nurture and underpin the steady supply of stars. This is akin to being able to visualise the final, brilliant diamond that will emerge from what is essentially a dull looking piece of glass-like material. Much as the diamond undergoes a transformation into glory through an arduous and delicate process of cutting and polishing, so does an individual evolve from being a rough cut diamond into the sophisticated final product, over a period of time.

One parameter of the success of any company should be to assess how many rough-cut diamonds are identified and how many are converted into dazzling diamonds?

In all this, the one critical difference between an Olympic sport and companies is the need for corporate entities to not just fete the medal winners, but also to make sure that all the others feel like winners too. For the continued success of an organisation, we need to acknowledge the fact that the Bell Curve theory applies, whereby perhaps, 80 per cent of the people are in the mid-range and another 10 per cent are in the lower range of achievements.

The classical pyramidal organisational structure applies as much to skills in a system as it applies to hierarchies. It becomes clear that the second critical major mandate for the senior management is to ensure, through personal and systemic interventions, that this large collection of individuals is made to feel good about what they do and that the rest of the system is made aware of their achievements.

Benign neglect

More often than not, in the rush to please the stars, an attitude of benign neglect is adopted towards this vast multitude. This is an invitation for serious trouble as without this base and middle, the pyramid will collapse. In my view, the success of any senior management team lies in keeping this substantial group of people not just motivated, but also groomed for growth up the corporate ladder.

Someone had this to say about the IITs and IIMs — it is pretty hard not to get a great reputation when you have the choice of dealing with only the very best students in India. All that is needed is to make sure that they do not lose any of their intelligence during the time they spend in these institutions! The real success comes when you deal with a full spectrum covering the other 95 per cent of students as well, and still make a name for yourself. Companies, by necessity, have to deal with the Bell Curve effect and their success can be measured based on how best they can align the different segments to work towards a common goal and shared success. They need to make sure that the corporate stars understand and appreciate the fact that without the contributions of all the others they could not have succeeded and got to where they are.

A system cannot thrive on stars alone. It can even be argued that such a system is likely to fail because of the negative tendencies like overweening pride and in some cases, bloated ego that stardom seems to bring in its wake. It is not enough to produce multi carat diamonds to please a few people; it is equally crucial to produce all those industrial grade diamonds which will ultimately decide if the system will succeed or not.

(The writer is advisor to the Manipal Education & Medical Group, 3i Infotech and Blue River Capital. He can be reached at mcshekaran@gmail.com)

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