Can organizations be successful by encouraging mistakes and failures?

They say, " Success is a bastard with many fathers and failure is an orphan with no takers", since every body wants to be successful and are afraid to fail. However wise people understand that success cannot be achieved without failures and success is a continues effort even after series of failures. It is this courage and conviction to pick up oneself and start over again that sets the successful people apart. Does this mean that to learn and be success one has to fail ? If so, then how many times one has to fail to become successful? Well there are no straight answers nor statistics to back these questions. On a lighter note people should not commit the same mistakes multiple times to become geniuses. One thing is clear that one has to learn from their mistakes or failures and not repeat the same mistakes or failures again. But yes one need not commit mistakes purposeful to learn but can learn from the mistakes of others as well. So as entrepreneurs and business heads it becomes important that not only success stories are read and emulated but even case studies about failures are read so as to not repeat the same mistakes. How can organizations adopt this?

Cultural Change

A culture of accepting mistakes or failures needs to be built in Organizations and a database built for future references by others. Businesses should not view mistakes or failures as a bane but put systems and processes in place to get to root cause leading to such mistakes or failures. This will ensure that people within the organizations will not fear failures or mistakes but analyse the mistakes and ensure that the same is not repeated. By building a database of mistakes and lessons learned from them it will ensure that the wheel is not reinvented and considerable time and effort are saved by not repeating the same mistakes.

Leading by example

The C.E.O. / Business Head should lead by example. He/she should accept his/her mistakes or failures with the team members to set an example. This will instill confidence within the team members and they will be convinced that the top management is serious about the issue and is not into mere sloganeering. When exposed to the external world the C.E.O., should have the courage to take the blame of failures on himself / herself to shield the team  from any criticism which may further lead to demotivation. One of classic example is an incident narrated by our former President late Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam about an interesting incident that happened in 1979 during the SLV project by ISRO when he was the Project Director of the mission and Prof. Satish Dhawan was the Chairman of ISRO. The gist of the incident is, when the mission failed during the first attempt Prof. Satish Dhawan took the blame for the failure and the next time when the mission succeeded he gave the credit to the entire team. Had he blamed the team when they had failed, then the morale of the entire team would have gone down which in turn would have demotivated the team and hence success would have eluded them.

Driving Innovation

The emphasis should be that failures are part of learning so that people can innovate with out the fear of being chastened or reprimanded. With a environment that fosters an open culture that embraces mistakes and failures, employees will be inspired to take risk and bring fresh perspective about products and services, thus driving innovation at work. With the burden of being successful being lifted, employees will be encouraged to experiment with new ideas than trying to be safe using tried and tested methods. But how ever it should be made clear that mistakes are encouraged but repeated mistakes of the same nature will not be tolerated.

Public Relations

Having a culture of learning from your mistakes or failures can also help build a great public relations with the external customers of the organization. By admitting to mistakes either through social media or traditional media and show casing that the organization is ready to learn from these mistakes or failures will create a positive brand image in the minds of the customer. Here also the timing and the way the message is conveyed is very important. A recent case being Maggi, the instant noodle brand. The management was late in address the issue and hence a negative image about the brand was created. Another case was that of coke which immediately admitted and addressed the presence of pesticides in their drink and assured the public of speedy redressal.

Conclusion

In conclusion organizations can benefit and be successful by encouraging mistakes and failures at work. However anything “too much is too bad”, the organization should have clear guidelines about how much or to what extend these mistakes or failures will be tolerated. It should also ensure that it does not give an indication that success is bad. It should have a fine balance between success and failures.

How Hanuman overcame his problems and what we can learn from it.

When Laxman was unconscious in the battlefield, Hanuman was assigned the task of getting Sanjeevani Booti (Herb) from the Dronagiri Parvat (mountain) in the Himalayas. However when Hanuman reached Dronagiri Parvat he was unable to locate the Sanjeevani Booti since he had no knowledge about the herb. What did Hanuman do when he faced this dilemma? He carried the entire Dronagiri Parvat to the battle field.  How did Hanuman do this? First he stepped out of the mountain. Second he grew bigger than the mountain. By doing these two things Hanuman was able to lift the mountain. What can we learn from this? 1. At first all problems seem like mountains. 2. To lift the mountain, one has to step outside the mountain. Similarly to solve the problems, one has to step out of the problems, i.e., one has to cut all emotional binding with the problems. This will ensure that we look at the problem with fresh eyes objectively. 3. Grow bigger than the mountain. That is stop being overwhelmed by the problem. The brain is tricked to believe that the problems are small and hence solve-able. Once the above two steps are achieved, then problem solving might seem easier.

Snore

Ashwat was very excited. Why shouldn't he? He was marrying his childhood sweetheart of 13 years Savita, that too with the consent of both the parents. After a whirl wind marriage and a romantic and tiring honeymoon, Ashwat and Savita settled down in their own condo, for which they had saved and invested over the past 3 years. Since both of them were working in reputed Organizations earning handsomely, they could accord the best of things that money could buy.

After 5 years of event-less marriage, Ashwat sat in his office cabin wondering what went wrong in his marriage. Both of them were very much in love and committed, however post marriage the love had slowly been replaced by anguish and hatred for each. The things they loved about each other were the things which pissed them off now.Since both of them were very ambitious about their careers, they had mutually agreed not to start a family, at least for the first 3 years of their marriage. But with their growing ambition their want for starting a family started diminishing. They were spending less time with each other and whatever time they spend were spent in quarreling. 

These 5 years were running in Ashwat's mind like a hollywood movie, more melodrama than any essence. The matter had reached boiling point. Ashwat was now contemplating getting rid of Savita. He felt he was so wronged by her that letting her off with a divorce was very little for what he had suffered in these 5 years. His relationship with Savita had become very bitter and acrimonious. So much so, that killing her was the only option Ashwat thought was apt. He didn't even mind spending a long stint at the gallows. He planned . His entire day in office was spent in planning ways and means to kill Savita. He looked at his watch, and it showed him 21:00 hours. Time to head home and execute his plan.

He reached home by 21:45. No traffic today. Looked like even the Gods wanted him to succeed today. He opened the door with his set of keys. Freshened and changed into his night dress. The cold dinner was layed out on the table, which didn't get a second look from Ashwat. He went to his bedroom, they were sleeping in separate rooms to avoid each other and their snoring. As he lay awake in his bed tossing and turning, restless about executing his next move, Savita walked in with a glass of warm milk. This was only the second time that Savita had got warm milk for Ashwat. The first was during their night of wedding. Ashwat was naturally startled. However he acted normal and took the glass from her. Savita looked very disturbed. She sat next to Ashwat. Ashwat drank his milk. Savita hugged Ashwat after nearly a years gap. She sobbed and said sorry. This perplexed Ashwat even more. He thought may be Savita felt sorry that matters between them had turned so sour. Ashwat contemplated dropping his plan. But his mind prevailed.

At 00:00 hours Ashwat got up from his bed and made his way to his wife's bedroom. He tiptoed so as to not wake up his wife. Then he realized how she slept like a log, snoring happily. He stood besides her, looking at her angelic face which glowed under the night lamp. She seemed so peaceful in her sleep and he wanted her to remain so for ever. He took a deep breadth and strangled her with his own hands. But what was happening? He could not comprehend. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even hold her neck leave alone strangulate her. After a few seconds which seemed like eternity, he dropped this idea of strangling her and tried to pick the pillow which was besides her. But today didn't seemed his day. No matter how hard he tried he was not even able to lift the pillow, leave alone suffocating Savita. His hands just passed through the pillow. Today seemed a day of surprises and shocks.

Ashwat walked back dejected to his room. His mission had failed today. But this was not the end, he swore. As he looked at his bed, another shock awaited him. He saw that he was lying in his bed, sleeping blissfully minus his heavy snoring.

Breakup of restaurant bills in India.

Every one visits restaurants for various reasons and various occasions. However after the meal is served and the bill is given, how many of us check the bill? How many know what is the various charges charged by the restaurant? And how much tip to pay?

Apart from the cost of the food, restaurants usually charge the following:

1. Service Charge

2. Service Tax 

3. VAT (Value Added Tax)

Though some restaurants may not charge all or any. 

Let us understand these components of the bill one by one. This time lets understand service charge.

Service charge is charged by the restaurant for rendering its services to you. This money goes to the restaurant and not to the Government, unlike in tax payment. The establishments are free to charge any amount as service charges as there are no guidelines provided by the tax authority on this. The charge varies from 5 to 10 per cent of the billed amount before taxes. Few restaurants don't charge it and then you may want to tip the waiters. If you are charged service charge in the bill, then you need not pay tips as this charge is supposed to be shared among the staff which include waiters, chefs and cleaning staff. The percentage is usually fixed by the restaurant

Most of us don't bother or question even when we feel the charges levied are on the higher side. Reason being, we think nothing can be done about it and secondly we don't want to spoil an outing with family and friends arguing with a manager.

However, if the menu doesn't mention service charges then you don't have to pay and have every right to question the restaurant. Remember penny saved is penny earned. 

So next time you enjoy your meal, ensure that you go through your bill as well.

Happy eating out!!!

New Wave

A New Wave

A phablet in my pocket,

connected to the internet.

I'm on FB, twitter plus google,

with updates and snaps to ogle.

Half of them I'm unaware,

couldn't care anymore I swear.

Clicking on likes and shares,

never bothered for second stares.

Lest I'm thought as obsolete,

have to swim with the fleet.

Whether I Like it or not,

felt I should be always sought. 

As if these were not enough,

whatsapp is now hot stuff.

With concept of group,

sharing un-necessary things in the loop.

Is this human interaction?

or is it clever machination?

With feelings and emotions,

of others having no equations.

Or has it become so vain,

disclosing our triumphs and pains.

To the people and world,

who are busy in their twirl.

I have a sense of despair,

this pretense of false air.

Have we become so numb?

crossed all levels of dumb?

These should only be our bridges,

rather than banes of all illness.

Being compulsive obsessions,

making us lose our true possessions.

The poor riches

The poor riches

Driving on a highway,zipping past the milestones,

listening to music, signing my heart out.

It had been long, I drove without my dear ones,

with gay abondan, I wanted to shout.

There I saw an old man, frail and weak,

trying hard to stand, but failing miserably.

He was without food and shelter for days maybe week,

yet there was a glow in him that shone affectionately.

I stopped my car, which came to a screaching halt,

but the speed had taken me a little far.

As I started to walk back, I was in for a jolt,

the face was heidous with a deep dark scar.

Repulsed and stunned, stood my ground,

confused and confounded unable to make my turn.

My mind said leave every thing and run without a sound,

heart cried and let out a soft churn.

Gathered my wits and pulled all courage,

listened to my human side and walked again.

Calmed my mind with little knowledge,

tried to reach out and listen to his pain. 

I handed a little packet of food,

nothing much a pack of biscuits to munch.

He devoured with glee, made himself good,

then looked at me with a hard hitting punch.

Once satiated, I asked him who he was,

why was he alone and what was he doing.

He drew a long breath and spoke with a pause,

and started his story of his earlier being.

He was once a wealthy man living with family,

servants and people at his beckoning. 

Earned his lively hood handsomely,

with all his graneries burgeoning. 

He became vain and egoistic,

as he thought there was none above him.

Life had plans to make him realistic,

to show things dont go as his whim.

Tragedy struck him when he least expected,

there was looting and rioting in his kingdom.

He lost everything he had earned,

even lost his family and fiefdom.

From rags to riches he had risen,

to see everything turn into dust.

Time spares none, nothing escapes its vision,

even the might fall and go bust.

Gold, money, mansion and all,

doesnt make you a great lord.

Compassion and love are the strongest wall,

which makes for a lovely chord.

I walked back with this wisdom,

that life is short and priceless.

We run behind glory and care seldom,

for our dear ones and loose everything in the crisis.

The early bird

The early bird

The sun was just rising,
the flowers were half asleep.
The dew was itself doubting,
the leaves were lying in a heap.

The first ray shone through,
as if setting off a mild alarm.
The creatures were still in thought,
to wake up or sleep holding nature's arm.

The flowers half opened their eyes,
were kissed by the golden beam.
Dew drops started shedding their size,
as they glistened in the morning gleam.

Mild and gentle wind whistled,
to wake up the sleepy souls.
Reminding  a long day had to be ushered,
and not to sleep like owls.

Run to be the fast one,
and make your resolve firm.
Time and tide waits for none,
the early bird gets the worm.