This is my first post on a new series called ‘The Inseparable Twins’ These posts would focus on the subjects which are like 2 different sides of one single coin.
The first inseparable twins are ‘Idea and Execution’. Thoughts come from a beautiful mind and your IDEA is a part of creativity. A good IDEA will give you a good start. You can lead (succeed) only if you can EXECUTE the idea well. Execution of good ideas is one of the critical factors that determine the success of a start-up and it is no different to an established corporate.
I met Prem Kumar recently. Prem is my school time friend. He shared an amazing experience of his. Let me narrate this story to illustrate my 3 cents of my first ‘Inseparable Twins’.
One of the problems in the company was that many people were coming late to work. So, the think-tank in the company (management team in this case) came up with an idea that they will have a new rule for people who report late at work. The new rule was that every late-comer had to drop $0.50 in a small piggy-bank like box which will be kept at the reception. The idea was to make people who come late feel guilty and solve the problem. Also the decision was that the collected money will be used for a good/useful cause end of the year.
Is this not a beautiful idea? What do you think would have happened when this idea was executed?
It was only found few months later that, even people who use to be on-time also starting coming late. All of them promptly dropped $0.50 into the box, if they were late. They were buying out their guilt by dropping in money in the box. Overall, the problem only became bigger…
Here are my 3 cents:
Cent #1: Idea generation and execution are like the two sides of a coin, they are two complementary and inseparable processes. If an idea is good but it is executed badly, its purpose is killed. The vice-versa is equally true as there cannot be a perfect execution without a worthy idea.
Cent #2: Punishment is not always the best solution to the problem. We must look at intelligent ways to drive home the point, which should inspire and induce people to become part of the solution itself.
“If the given punishment is not painful enough, it will back fire only to be very painful to you.” – Naveen Lakkur.
Cent #3: You should learn from the mistakes. You should also learn from others mistake as you don’t have time to commit all by yourself. Same way it’s important to learn from others experience (includes success stories).
Thank You! Prem for sharing a very useful experience with me…
Great post Naveen.
“Solve it right or get ready to solve a bigger problem” is what I got out of this.
On a lighter note Naveen, this article is like a suspense novel with the last chapter missing
The question “How did they finally solve the latecomer problem?” remains unanswered.
Prem and Naveen - please don’t keep us in suspense anymore
Best,
Raj
———
Rajesh,
You have always been asking great questions (It’s not a surprise to know that your company tagline is “We ask better questions”).
No more suspense…here is what was implemented in Prem’s company to beat the problem
1. Withdrawal of the $0.50 penalty for late-coming
2. Education to employees about their responsibility and also about the high productivity in the morning times. Made employees more accountable (task driven instead of physical presence).
3. Company sponsored breakfast served before office hours (morning 8:30AM to 9:00AM). Incentive for beating the morning traffic congestion.
The scenario is very different now. There is a 98% turnout ON or BEFORE time.
Regards - Naveen Lakkur
What a brilliant ´idea´ from the think-tank! (I hate this jargon – calling a group of managers as think-tank is BS.) Did the ´think-tank´ really think here? Did they see the employees as school kids who would avoid coming to work late just because of the 50-cent fine? Anybody will enjoy 30-minutes of additional personal time for a simple 50-cent charge. A mature work-place supervisor would approach employees directly and tell them the effects of them arriving late, how customers and the management percieves them and would ask them how they could avoid this. Respect them, give them feedback and be assertive about the problem. You don´t need a think-tank for this, you don´t need an idea for this, the idea doesn´t have to be executed. These are simple everyday problems.
The premise that developing ideas and executing those ideas is acceptable. Please give mature examples.