I have grown up seeing my dad getting those felicitations of long service from Tata Steel, 15 years, 25 years and so on, mostly wrist watches which I used to wear for schools. I would not know what percentage of the grads who started their career in 2003 are still in the same organisation; for my batch at MBA it is 2:30, and pretty sure it will be less than 5% in majority cases. For my parents who have worked the entire career for the Tatas it was very evident that it was never the thrill at work that glued them, but the ecosystem created by the organisation outside the work. The driving factor was not the eight hours at work, but the life linked to the rest 16 hours that made the difference. For the people in Jamshedpur it is absolutely the utopian state of job security, good food, good health and hospitals, good education, good air, good water, staying close to your friends and relatives, and a policy where your next gen can also get absorbed in the same organisation. It was not just the salary but the Total Reward one enjoyed being part of the organisation.
But this is not the same with me or other Xennials like me. So, what makes Xennials- people born between late 1970’s to early 1980’s, like me continue for 15 years in the same organisation. Let me try to get a sample answer of what kept me moving passionately for 15 years!
1. The phase at which you join the organisation
a. Joined the auto division at Mahindra in 2003, just 2 years from the launch for Scorpio, M&M making the bold statement of SUVs with Car plus proposition, the space which many of the global automobile giant could not enter.
b. Just at that time the seed of Customer sensitivity was getting sowed at our dealership, suddenly customers became the core of our existence, and the earnest need to change the culture
c. It was the phase of “expanding the pond” for us and our channel partners, and its required all of us to be TIGER to do so, a tiger is one who is “Tough Ingenious Go getter Enterprising and Resourceful “
d. The ability of the organisation to make the “Rightful Engagement, Communication and Dialogue with the mass below in the organisation.
2. The Mountain Climb, scaling the peak with empowerment and accountability
a. The life cycle of an employee in an organisation is like a mountain climb. The employee goes through all the steps like – base camp, climb 1, climb 2, climb 3
b. At Base Camp- the mental state is like “what do I get from organisation “, we just want to know what is expected of us at work
c. Climb 1: it is “what do I give to the organisation “– we are focused on individual performance and another people’s perception of it
d. Climb 2: it is state of “Do I belong here” - you want to know if you fit, are you surrounded with people who push the envelope as you do
e. Camp 3: “How can we all grow” – you want to make things better, to learn, to grow to innovate.
I think I scaled the Climb 3, within the first 4 years in the organisation, getting that empowerment and accountability early in the career when elevated to a department head in 2008. No one can reach a peak by directly reaching at Climb 2 and try to reach the summit, very high probability of getting caught with mountain sickness. This is very well elaborated by Marcus Buckingham in his book -First break all the rules .
3. Number of instances where company needing you versus you needing the company
This is the main stimulant for a Leader to perform. Encash on opportunity when you have a challenging assignment and demonstrate what you can achieve. In this tenure of 15 years I got many such opportunities where I was required to steady the ship for the company, off course to extent of my role.
4. Opportunity to handle new responsibility without having to change the organisation
Many time the key driver to move on in a job is the monotonicity of current job and aspirations for early growth. At Mahindra for me it has been a consistent story of getting the right role, right opportunity and right growth at desirable time interval.
5. The opportunity to leave a legacy behind
This motivates more than anything else in the work. Identifying suitable arears where we can do the rightful intervention, move away from the conventional thinking. This is a habit and off coarse an intoxicating one, I got addicted to it early in the journey.
6. The ability to nurture good talent and create the pipeline for the organisation
This is the best that you can achieve for the company. To see your people learn develop and benefit from the time spent with you and grow up taking bigger responsibilities. In my career as a department head has been closely associated with many of them and happy to see them deliver so well in their careers.
7. Justifying the time spend at each of the roles
Spending the right amount of time in each role is the key to achieving the many of the above points of empowerment, accountability, taking the right steps and getting the right outcome!
8. Social status attached with the role- people know about your organisation
It is always a happy feeling when you are not required to introduce your company to the outside world. For Mahindra it has been a case where people know what it stands for. They have witnessed and happily acknowledged the transformation of the company; and they always seem to have the more updated bit of information than you have!
9. You have a future to look for in the organisation
Being part of a diverse group and a global conglomerate always gives you that opportunity to look for and explore the right opportunity. This increases the ability to take the appropriate risk because you have organisation support to fall back upon if things do not work out well.
10. Above all, the strength of the organisation; its ability to attracts, focus, and keep the most talented employees
I wish you all Happy and engaging life at your workplace and a Cheerful life beyond!
Happy Living
Robin Kumar Das
Robin Kumar Das is the Country Head, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Bangladesh.
Nice to read
ReplyDeleteExcellent job, "Robin Diary" need to be published. Keep writing
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