Getting Things Right And Getting Things Done
The first phase of the organization restructuring was over. Our Office (Sprint RPG) wore a sombre look. Emotions were choked. Performers were rewarded. Others were still coming to terms.
For me; the tension had passed. I was to move to New Delhi and wear a new hat. I had no complaints.
My colleague Srini, who I have great respect for as a super sales guy, was grim as he vent out his feelings to me that night at the bistro bar.
“Does Vinod (our boss) have any realism at all? He expects me to reconcile my entire regional accounts and change the receivable aging to less than thirty days in flat two months? I tell you Milind, we need to confront Mr. Goenka (Mr. Goenka, Group Chairman) and let him know that these guys at the top need to expect only what they themselves can deliver”.
I could only sympathize. He went on. “I tried every bit. We had meetings every quarter and each time I did apprise him of what was happening. Never once did he indicate anything as unacceptable. And today? I get to know that ‘my performance is average and I have to wait more to get to the zonal band. It is killing.”
Srini’s words echoed in my head for the whole week. He was partially right. Our appraisal system was flawed. The annual results cannot be more different than the quarterly tips (except in some exceptional circumstances).
I knew Srini’s way of working. He was a perfectionist. In may ways he was like me (I do not intend to pat myself). But we worked on the same principles: ‘Focus indepth on the means; great results will automatically follow’ as against what management always taught us: ‘Never mind the means; get the results”.
We all; as managers; through our entire career, have to deal with the tension between getting things right and getting things done. That if I was too quick and sloppy, people would find my work useless and tiresome. But if I was too much of a perfectionist, I wouldn’t get very much done.
Walking this tightrope is never easy. I guess I apply standards that vary depending on whether it is a blog post (this one will take about 20 minutes, I will proof it once, and no doubt, it will be as imperfect as the last one).
I know that I will always struggle to get this balance right yet but never will. I also know that no matter how hard I try to make things perfect, there will always be flaws, there will always be things I wish I could go back and change, and there will always be people I can’t please no matter how hard I try.
That is every person’s lot in life, be it anyone else who does creative work — from programming, to product design, to management consulting, to playing and writing music, to architecture, to hair styling, to leadership, to scientific experiments.
It is also the true test of leadership in identifying ‘hurdles’ that an employee faces than engage in conversation purely on ‘results achieved’.
How many times have we seen in our careers that these ‘cracks’ in the leadership are the ones that need to be filled in first. (this very much relate to my other topic elsewhere in the blog: ‘Is your Management respected for sheer age or performance’.)
I know that a lot of readers of this blog do creative work. I wonder, how do you strike this balance? How do you decide when it is time to toss your ideas out out into the world?
Related posts:
- Kaizen: Challenging Your Comfort Zone
- There Is a Lot More To Your Visiting Card!
- Who Am I?
- Conflicts And The Factor Of Time
Tags: age, Blog, deadline, efficient, employee, employees, getting things done, milind, perfection, sloppy, timeline, wagh
