Workability
Building the first-time-right culture
T.P.S Walia

DOING things ‘first time right" (FTR) is not only a desirable thing for any company, but it has become a key factor for success in today’s cut-throat competition, where the market forces will not give you a second chance to correct your mistake.

Normally, right from childhood people are groomed to avoid conflict. An average person is always afraid of getting into a conflict if he speaks out his mind, without mincing words. This spirit is detrimental for an organisation that wants to have an FTR culture. It is important to build a culture of ‘spashtavadita’ where an employee feels free:

*To propose something path-breaking or radical changes, even if it means facing immense internal resistance.

*To challenge his superiors’ wrong-doing even if it may lead to them developing ill-feelings towards him.

*To question his peers’ proposals which are not in the organisation’s interest.

*To act firmly with the incompetent, non-performing colleagues, even if it means being unpopular in the organisation.

Let us imagine a scenario where the entire team is sitting to discuss future business growth. An organisation not having the culture of ‘spashtavadita’, would discuss how tough the competition is; how limited the resources are and how there is no market demand etc. In fact, by the time the meeting ends, the team would get into a self-congratulatory mode, pat itself on the back for the success that has been achieved even "under difficult circumstances".

An organisation, having the culture of ‘spashtavadita’, on the other hand, would change this meeting from a self- congratulatory parade to a stimulating working session. The team members would discuss path-breaking products, strategies, innovations by which they can grow even higher in spite of the tough competition or in spite of being a late entrant in the field.

The FTR culture is not possible without having ‘spashtavadita’ as a philosophy amongst all the team members.

Ask yourself: do you work best under supervision or are you able to create your own work? Learn to structure and deliver your results without any supervision or with minimal supervision? If yes, you may expect a great career in a fighting organisation. If you are unsure, then perhaps other big, faceless companies as better places for you, which can afford supervision. The ability to work unsupervised, ability to reach out and ask for help are critical requirements. If a person walks into the office in the morning and looks to his boss, "Please tell me what to do today", he or she will find the FTR culture too difficult to cope with.

Learn to see the big picture and at the same time, sharply focus on the small one, on which your today depends critically. The big picture is important because that is where the organisation is going. It may take 3 to 5 years but that is what binds everyone. While ability to perceive the big picture is important, equally important is the need for sharp focus on immediate deliverables. After all, the future is a cumulative sum of many todays, strung together in time. The ability to focus on today while moving towards tomorrow is an uncommon quality that is a pre-requisite for working for and being happy in operations with the FTR culture.

The FTR culture is for those who will create new maps and explore, and not for those who prefer a guided tour of the future.

A FTR culture requires a tremendous amount of teamwork. By definition, a late entrant organisation has fewer hands and more things to be done. Every one has to share the load of lot of undefined work that cannot wait.

As a result, the spirit required in any organisation must involve a lot of load sharing, a lot of baton passing. The need to take care of customer requirements or teaching each other is so high that no one has to be told what needs to be done. Those who do not appreciate the importance of teamwork or do not enjoy it will find the atmosphere difficult to accept and would eventually start pumping negative energy into the system.

Normally, any new project takes anywhere between 3 to 5 years to come to a stage where it can attain market leadership and go for public listing and only after that employees can reap the harvest of their hard work.

Only the people, who stay over this period of 3-4 years, get to learn from the great start up experience, and share the glory of success.

Hence, it becomes necessary to develop a state of mind that accepts a career marathon. Given the job-hopping propensity, if an employee works with a company for very short periods, the complete a start-up experience will not be gained neither will the person benefit financially.

The writer is the Head of Marketing, Tata Teleservices, Chandigarh