The Hindu Business Line : Let people develop their skills

Companies love off-site meetings. Meetings in which strategies are debated are even more special and great effort is taken to hold such events in exotic locales. These are normally positioned as events where the managers who are fortunate enough to be invited are supposed to leave their workday cares behind and concentrate on figuring out the really important stuff like where should the company be headed, how to get there and, most importantly, who will take it there. Thos e who attend have a virtuous glow from being among the chosen few and those who are left behind, naturally enough, sulk!

I was invited to attend one such meeting recently and accepted the invitation with alacrity! The meeting began with a milling crowd where people greeted each other boisterously. Everyone settled down as the external consultant who was driving the process made the usual serious announcements on the agenda, the ‘dos and don’ts’. One such instruction was the inevitable “Please switch off your cell phone and BlackBerry.” Everyone present looked at each other with knowing smiles and ostentatiously switched off their instant gratification gizmos.

The speeches began and the agenda began to unfold. Within the first half hour, there were guilty glances as people clandestinely switched on their devices and fingers were furiously at work. Pretty soon, at least half the people in the room were involved in trying to achieve that impossible balance between playing with their gadgets and looking involved in the conference proceedings! Then, a tea break was announced and there was a concerted rush to bring out the devices and operate them without guilt.

What I have described is a common enough scene that I am sure is familiar to most of us. The question that arises is: When all those who are at such gatherings know that they are supposed to focus on the future of the company, why are they so furiously working their gadgets keeping in touch with the present? A further question arises: Have they not adequately prepared those who work with them to handle the normal issues that are a part of daily professional life?

This brings us face to face with the issue of empowerment being more than just a nice concept. Equally important, this has ramifications on conscious and planned efforts to continuously help people assume higher levels of responsibility within an organisation. For, at the end of the day, an organisation can grow only if its people grow.

It would appear that there is an innate need in most of us to feel wanted even when we are away, attending to matters that require our undivided attention. For some of us, this tendency extends to wanting to be in touch with official matters even while on a holiday! There can be two reasons for such behaviour from senior managers:

A feeling of inadequacy in oneself that can only be assuaged by constant connectivity to issues that others are meant to handle in one’s absence.

A feeling that those who are asked to handle issues in one’s absence may not really be capable of handling such issues.

Whichever way we look at it, everyone loses and the biggest loser is the organisation. People will not get the space to take their own decisions, make their own mistakes, learn and grow. Not doing this is akin to not letting a baby take faltering steps, totter, fall, get up and get going again.

The most fascinating thing about babies is the persistence with which they get up after every fall and continue on their quest for independence through mobility. Yet, it is important to be around when the baby starts to walk to provide a safety net so that nothing serious happens to the baby. Similarly, one must let one’s juniors take their baby steps and learn to cope; at the same time set limits for their actions so they do not end up hurting themselves or the company. This essentially means a planned regimen that encourages decision making, taking responsibility and devising ways to escalate problems before they become unmanageable.

There is an apocryphal story about lizards. It appears that they stay on the ceiling or walls because they feel that if they come down, the ceiling and walls will collapse! May we all not be like these proverbial lizards. Let us get off our corporate walls and ceilings and let people grow.

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