The other day I administered Udai Pareek's Personal Effectiveness Scale to 19 participants of a management development program. Over a half of them (11) scored 'Low' on the dimension 'self-disclosure' - self-disclosure, as Udai defined, is "sharing with others what others do not seem to know about you." The previous day, 7 out of 11 scored low on self-disclosure - again over 60%! I went back to some old database I preserved and found that 170 out 264 managers scored low on self-disclosure! I recalled similar results in many administrations of the instrument. At the risk of gross generalisation, it looks like more than 60% of managers are low in self-disclosure.
What does this imply? Udai states - and I agree with this - that when people are low in self-disclosure, their potential to be effective, despite other capabilities, is likely to be low. People who have a low propensity to make themselves transparent are either low performers, or as more likely is to be the case, they are under-performing. Thus, there is a huge and highly avoidable wastage of potential - performance and contribution (read "wealth/value creation"!)
Why are so many people hesitant to make themselves visible? The root of this must be found in their distrust of others. If I don't trust you, I will be extremely wary of letting a lot of me be known to you. Simple: I don't trust you, so I don't share about myself; the little I will show of myself is also likely to be what you already know of me, most probably the 'professional' side of me that is non-vulnerable.
According to the Great Places to Work For formulation, trust is one of the critical elements of making an organisation great. Also, if you don't trust me, I am unlikely to trust you too. Further, if you are not trusting, you are not likely to be credible, you are not likely to respect me and you not likely to treat me fairly. May be, when over 60% of managers are not trusting, more than 60% of employees are likely to have more than 60% of their concentration on outside their current organisations!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
"There is no budget." Or Is Something Else Not There?
Understandably, when a company's profit is under pressure, the company will think a hundred times before incurring any cost. Even if some expenses were sanctioned earlier when budget decisions were taken, companies will 'strongly advise' against spending. Or, they may ask people to reduce costs by certain percentage. Companies may even cut down the sanctioned expenses. These are all a part of the game of running a business.
When such things happen, it is common for people - particularly those in the support functions (like HR, Facilities, Quality and IT) - to lament, "There is no budget!" The lament may be valid. Or is it, at least always? Is this an excuse to hide something else which is not there - other than budget? Let me share an incident.
The other day I went to a company and heard that they were celebrating "Kids Day." (Predictably of course, it was an 'HR initiative' and a part of 'employee engagement' activities!) Employees were encouraged to bring their children to the office and some events for the children were organised. I saw a couple of young ladies at the lobby, and they were on their knees starting to draw a rangoli. They had drawn a flower and had started filling it with colors. I suggested to them that they create pictures of cartoon characters (like Mickey or Donald) that the kids will love. They looked at one another and one of them said, "Ma'am asked us to draw a rangoli."
I met "Ma'am"and repeated my suggestion. I was completely floored by what she said, "Sir, we don't have budget." I told her, "We are anyway spending on the rangoli color powders, and the time required for the rangoli. Instead of making a rangoli of flower, I am suggesting that we make some pictures that the kids will love." She said, "Good idea!" and left me to mind my business.
When I went to the lobby after an hour or so, the rangoli was done - it was the same flower that I saw the ladies on their knees starting. I have no idea about how much the kids who came for "Their" Day loved it.
(Rangoli is typically Indian. It is a picture drawn with hand on the floor. While originally rice flour was used, these days any white powder - chemicals and even chalk powder - is used to draw the outlines. The insides are filled with various colors. Pictures are usually geometric patterns of straightlines or curves, almost invariably symmetric. Nowadays, non-geometric patterns are also drawn. What can be drawn as a rangoli is limited only by one's creativitive imagination. Search for "rangoli" in Google Images and you will land up in tons of these!)
When such things happen, it is common for people - particularly those in the support functions (like HR, Facilities, Quality and IT) - to lament, "There is no budget!" The lament may be valid. Or is it, at least always? Is this an excuse to hide something else which is not there - other than budget? Let me share an incident.
The other day I went to a company and heard that they were celebrating "Kids Day." (Predictably of course, it was an 'HR initiative' and a part of 'employee engagement' activities!) Employees were encouraged to bring their children to the office and some events for the children were organised. I saw a couple of young ladies at the lobby, and they were on their knees starting to draw a rangoli. They had drawn a flower and had started filling it with colors. I suggested to them that they create pictures of cartoon characters (like Mickey or Donald) that the kids will love. They looked at one another and one of them said, "Ma'am asked us to draw a rangoli."
I met "Ma'am"and repeated my suggestion. I was completely floored by what she said, "Sir, we don't have budget." I told her, "We are anyway spending on the rangoli color powders, and the time required for the rangoli. Instead of making a rangoli of flower, I am suggesting that we make some pictures that the kids will love." She said, "Good idea!" and left me to mind my business.
When I went to the lobby after an hour or so, the rangoli was done - it was the same flower that I saw the ladies on their knees starting. I have no idea about how much the kids who came for "Their" Day loved it.
(Rangoli is typically Indian. It is a picture drawn with hand on the floor. While originally rice flour was used, these days any white powder - chemicals and even chalk powder - is used to draw the outlines. The insides are filled with various colors. Pictures are usually geometric patterns of straightlines or curves, almost invariably symmetric. Nowadays, non-geometric patterns are also drawn. What can be drawn as a rangoli is limited only by one's creativitive imagination. Search for "rangoli" in Google Images and you will land up in tons of these!)
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