The Fun Way

The
essence of any organization is the quality of its strategies, processes and
people. In the IT industry, where economic cycles of innovation and
revitalization turn faster than any other industry sector, it becomes even more
crucial to have a continuous evaluation of the strength of each of these
elements. There have been many organizations, not just in the US but right here
on Indian shores, which have blazed briefly like a meteorite only to fall to
dust as either of these elements failed to keep pace with the changing demands
of the times.

Strategy has often been described as the cornerstone of any successful
organization, since it is this and only this that can see all the grand vision,
the "better than industry" goals and objectives and the business and
quality targets, met and exceeded on a consistent basis. However, in industries
like the software exports sector, where 100% growth has been the order of the
day, its is only quality processes and the repeatability of optimal task
completion that can see the sustenance of customer satisfaction as the
organization grows from small to medium to large.

And of course, the people! Clichés abound in the software industry of
"assets going down the elevator every evening" and "people being
the product and key ingredient of every process". In such an environment,
managing and motivating people and integrating people management processes into
the structure, systems and management style becomes an imperative for every
knowledge organization.

People management: Intuitive or systematic?

The art of people management is best described through an anecdote. As a
young professional, just over 30, I left a fairly hierarchical and formal
organization to join NIIT, at that time a small firm, a division of an entity
called Pace Education Ltd, run by sheer entrepreneurial energy and a desire to
change the world. The first day of my induction was spent with a young lady who
took me through the structure and systems of the organization while we waited
for the big boss to arrive.

Suddenly, the earth shook as a bearded man breezed in, hugged the young lady,
congratulated her on what I was to later discover was her first pregnancy and
changed my outlook forever on how to interact with colleagues and juniors in an
organization. In a world where a handshake was all that was deemed acceptable as
a form of social contact between colleagues, a paradigm shift was occurring in
front of my eyes, and unknowingly, in my mind! Looking back, one knows that such
liking and affection for one’s co-workers need not be hidden and cannot be put
on. It is this quality to feel and demonstrate genuine fondness for the world
around you that differentiates the truly great leaders of knowledge
organizations from the managers who pose as leader wannabes in many present-day
firms.

That early lesson, learnt from Vijay Thadani of NIIT, has stood me in good
stead to this day in building organizations full of energy, hope and a positive
vision. At Aptech, which I led till recently, the fun and friendly approach
pervaded every business and leisure activity and sent positive energy coursing
through the minds and hearts of most Aptech-ites. This energy reflects itself in
many ways–informality and an open-door culture and stemming from this, an
infectious need to enjoy life. More important, a liking for each other that kept
some of the more active participants of the ‘vision community’ at work long
after official hours demanded.

Organizations today are also taking steps to institutionalize this spirit of
fun in processes and systems. Beyond the annual get-togethers, sharing and
teamwork can be and is being facilitated by the ubiquitous Internet and Intranet
technology through killer applications like information and knowledge portals.
An organization in Europe actually reduced its turnover of call center employees
to half and eliminated mistakes by connecting the entire organization and
providing work related knowledge acquisition.

Putting fun to work

At a seminar held by the EIU, a serious discussion took place on what ‘old
economy’ companies could learn from the innovative human resource practices
adopted by the IT industry. After the talk on open culture, breaking down of
hierarchical barriers and fun in the workplace, somebody asked a loaded
question: "How much of the profit in software exports could be attributed
to work culture and how much to just being an industry in the right place at the
right time? While it took some introspection to come up with the answer, it is
now obvious that just making life more enjoyable for the workforce has not
necessarily resulted either in reduced attrition or in better productivity. It
is only those organizations which have integrated their employee-oriented
initiatives into the mainstream work culture that have really benefited in
financial terms.

Taking a leaf out of the NIIT book on ‘Connecting NIITians’, which
recently won the company the ‘HR Practices Award’ at the World HR Congress,
the connectivity initiative sets itself the objective not just of community and
culture building, but also providing a reliable communications forum for virtual
teams. It also means an HR focus on strategic activities. Productivity
improvement features through online performance appraisals, application
processing and records access, online salary slips and corporate information
access are also factored in. Coupled with online bazaars, bargain counters,
opinion polls and a tax helpline, all these enable a ‘feel-good’ factor that
leads to better utilization of productive time.

While all the above could be categorized as cost reduction and soft benefits,
organizations can go one step further by allowing their suppliers and customers
to become part of the ‘fun community’. Trans-company project workgroups,
free access to company information and collaborative working help in generating
customer confidence and go a long way in ensuring ‘customer stickiness’ by
increasing switching costs.

And a last word of wisdom for infoTech CEOs charged with building and
sustaining fun organizations–a fun organization is one where every member of
the firm wakes up charged on Monday morning, looking forward to returning to the
workplace. When this stops happening for anybody, for anybody from the chairman
to doorman, it is best to get out of the way and move on to where the fun can
start all over again!

Ganesh Natarajan

former president of Aptech and a founder-director of BConnectB, is deputy
chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies.