Often while evaluating the challenges and opportunities facing my organization and the industry on the whole, I am faced with a question of how to build a truly global organization having global leaders who essentially will come from the next generation. The changing environment indicates that what was true in the past is not true now. So what’s so different about the environment today than it was five years ago?
I believe the three Rs have changed – the Responsibilities are different, the Response we want from our managers is different, and Results expected from these managers are different. Keeping this in mind, would it be sufficient to just induct and manage leaders into a global culture?
What we need is a global organization- and I believe a global organization is different from an American or a European or an Indian organization. If you ask me to define this global organization, I would say a global organization is one that inverts the pyramid of the organizational structure. It is more entrepreneurial. And it has to create what I call ‘the democratization of the organizations’, where it is not people like us who are monitoring, managing, and hence, correcting what others should be doing. It’s all about reverse accountability- that we are responsible to help them achieve their goals, radically different than our conventional style of management.
And when we run an organization like an inverted pyramid, issues like that of cultural integration will be completely bypassed. That’s because our job will primarily be that of an enabler, a facilitator. Rather than running our organization in a military fashion with ‘command and control’ (usually seen in manufacturing setups), you run it in an enabled fashion where responsibilities, responses and results expected are clearly defined. In an enabling environment, you create communities of interest, you create collaborative platforms, and you create sensitivity to global cultures. And you don’t intervene. At HCL, we have seen a large degree of success with this management style.
Some may wonder and argue that there is still a need of that one person to take the final decision. I disagree!
We are heading towards managing the next generation of employees who would shun away hierarchy and who would resist structures. This next generation is an internet generation and their key style is information-learning-collaborating. They would want more value, more innovation, and more collaboration. And they collaborate in unstructured formats, beyond our imagination and what we have seen so far.
Another point is, that unlike manufacturing and unlike an army, the value in an IT services company actually gets created in the interface between am employee and the customer and that interface is by far the most important in running (it services) businesses. So the global leaders have to manage these people who are different in nature, and he also has to realize that he is not the one creating value. The interface is doing that. In my mind, CEO being a ‘larger than life decision maker or a visionary is some thing that belongs to the past. I strongly believe it is time to think of destroying the office of the CEO. The next generation business imperatives are about CEO’s accountability of creating enabling functions to bring about openness and build a learning ground. This will ensure that people create value in that interface where their leaders not necessarily participate. In today’s world when parents have repositioned themselves as ‘friends’ of their children shouldn’t the boss rethink his relationship?
The relevance of leadership in tomorrow’s world is a question mark. My belief is that of shared leadership or shared accountability. A more provocative word is inverse accountability – where the leader is accountable to his employees. And unfortunately it does not exist today. We believe in democratic values in our day-to-day life, but we fail to run our organizations democratically. Reverse accountability of a leader to his employees will become a vital requisite and once it does, shared leadership will automatically emerge.
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Your points are well-appreciated especially of "inverse accountability" and CEO is the enabler. Now, how do we want to go about that? It needs a change of mind-set in so called "power centers" which today exists in our monolithic pyramids. Its not inversion of pyramid rather it is flattening of "empowerment" and then ascertaining a culture of "risk-reward" distribution of the pie called profitability.
While I agree with you that the source of value creation in services is at the interface between the employee and the client and that managers should change into enablers of this interaction, my experience suggests that this can happen only when we start looking beyond the prevalent notion of organization.
We are probably operating in global service networks. A network perspective and greater focus on the process of human interaction can provide options for people at different levels to challenge prevalent power structures and work towards the notion of shared leadership/responsibility.
I beg to differ on only one account,..how and why get the opinion that a manufacturing setup is not unlike that of an army, ‘command and control’ .. While the West embrace technology for advances, the east (and ergo Japanese) rely more on a people driven culture, which firmly believes in more of down the level people empowerment, and flat hierarchial structures. eg, the team leader is expected to take the place of an team member during shift production in his absence. Also, one needs to take into account the fact that a manufacturing setup has different "grades" of people,.and hence, a sense of organizational structure is required.
But, rest assured that Shopfloor decision empowerment is getting to be the order of the day, and a lot of Indian manufacturing companies are following suite, a la their Japanese counterparts.
Challenges of today are evident from the large scale changes happenning around us in all aspects of Life.
Each organisation has a big oppurtunity today to mould itself and shape up for the future growth.
Onus lies on the leaders today to create value for the next generation and make way for revolutionary thoughts,like yourself.
Your thoughts have further given me confidence to believe in my values.
Lets lead by example…and let followers lead us to.
Dear Vineet – "Leader is accountable to his employees"…says it all at a macro level from delivery aspect.But, choosing the "Right" leader(Processess..) for the for the Business Line with the "Right" vision and "Right" energy(mission) that synchs up with Organisation Dynamics(Revenue & Operational framework) as a whole liberates(what I call business Nirvana..or fail-safe) from the realities of Global Market Dynamics.Again it is 3 Rs..
Regards – Arun
Thanks for putting the dynamics of changing environment in right perspective. Mangers is no more about "managing", but creating future leaders. Easier said than done, because of our imperialist mindsets. Today’s generation likes to experiment and experience (look around and you find entrepreneurs rising everyday) and not treated as robots. Team empowerment along with right dose of mentoring should make an organization fabulous place to work
That organsations need to be lead and lead towards an agreed goal is a defined practice of management in the past. This isnt going to change in the near future as well.
However the thoughts presented are a distnct departure from the past but in my view nothing radical. Instead the view one get is that of the treatment of managing and leading having evolved with the attendant forces of industry dynamics.
Darwinism has more relevance to the business of today that it ever had in terms of impact. And organisations which have survived have by sheer instincts coped with the changing dymanics of the business terrain. Some which havent have withered into the oblivion.
Successful Organisation of the future will have a distinct inclusive DNA nonetheless evolutionary DNA. For the short term investors will reward initatives involving innovation and transformational corporate renditions. The life blood of these enterprises will be Vision,Strategy,Execution,Delegation,motivation,inspiration and creating what has be dealt in your blog as ” Integrating Cross Cultures” and ” Enabling Functions”.
While i am in agreement with the several changing paradigms about employees and organisations , CEO are not going to be redundant in a hurry. Business world apart ,planet earth is still in Command Control mode. Albeit Changing to a pluralistic shift in thinking inclusion of several myraid constitunents.
How else could one explain the Military powers impacting sharing of ecomomic and welfare programs by vitrue of the ” So Called Sanctions”. How do we explain the G 8 and its strangle hold on the close knit ecomonies.
The CEO of today , many like your self have the ardorous task of being market makers , rain makers and transformation managers. Importantly as cheiftans one who can clearly articulate a vision and predict a future to the several thousand waiting to be inspired to higher degrees of productivity. Focus on inclusive programs to distribute wealth evenly amongst the societies around the world.The CEO of today has a richer charter of creating several CEO’s in pipeline to carry the entreprenurial engine chugging along definitive paths.
Its is my kind submission that with all the good points taken into consideration we should foster for a grander purpose for the office of the CEO instead of destroying it. Evolve it into a position where mere mortals can look forward to. Look forward to a future with certianity.
Author has written well with lot of wishful ideas. True that organization will become more and more flat in years to come. But do not confuse between global organization and inverted pyramid.
Global organization is one which does business with global markets and customers. Not the one who imagines his deliverables are worthwhile while he can not even sell to nearby city. Stakehodlers must be from different countries to make the organization into a global one. sending mails to contacts around the world does not make you global.
Trust this fundamental premise is reconciled by author.
next si inverted pyramid. Investor who puts his cash and waits for profit quickly is the one who decides appropriate CEO who directs the sales, delivery, support function as an orchestra conductor. He can not be trade union leader nor go by majority of employees, otherwise co will go bankrupt.
Trust this makes sense in serious conetxt rather than poetical in ideas, which are not OK business wise.
While ur blog is informative, it might be interesting to know that a SINGLE sentence from YOU can SAVE the Planet.
This kind of thought can come out only when there is a lot of ‘trust’ involved. Trust in the others involved in running the organization.. ie. trust in every single employee in the organization. Such thoughts are actively discussed and welcomed by the ‘current’ generation of professionals. But on most occasions, they are brushed aside as ‘fanciful ideas that are not practical’.. when it comes from an industry leader though, it is more ‘accepted’. So, does it mean we, our society as a whole, are not yet ready to take on and implement such ideas? I suspect so.. I see as much joy on display ‘on being led’ as in ‘leading’. Some more time needed for such thoughts to become practical??
Wow, Vineet. I accidentally saw the blog while searching for the telephone number of HCL. And I am impressed. I am myself an Indian heading a large subsidiary of a world leading MNC outside India. Its terrific what you say but I wonder how you are able to get it operating at "all" levels of your organisation, and if not how do you prevent generating cynicism among employees. e.g. while what you say is correct and a number of us think the same, its difficult to do because even most of our "followers" are not ready for such kind of "leaders". How do you enable the kind of ownership you talk about with people who might still be clinging to defensiveness or worse would use that empowerment to emasculate others. Right people in the right job for sure is the answer, but how and where to find those right guys in right numbers and at all levels. where did you start with – your immediate senior managers? how far are you with this approach - can you live with crucial long term decisions made by front line employees which you donot agree with? and what about your shareholders? how you managed their expectations when they must be expecting a more "heroic style of leadership". Great anyways!
Nice Post !
I was searching for a good job and came across HCL website. This blog quite impressed me as it is a reflection of HCL management working "with" and "for" the employees and hence acting as a motivation.
Leadership envisioned as a facilitator and enabler is a refreshing thought! This topic in my opinion is targeted at and possibly fascinating for middle management. Penetration below that level in the pyramid is unlikely given the experience, knowledge and the world they live in. Hence to implement this idea, dissect the pyramid somewhere in the middle and create an inverted environment. In specific terms, objective of a senior manager would be to ensure success of the vision and goals of their immediate subordinate managers. It is hard to operate without hidden agendas at the top level, but the need is to create a believing subordinate managers that is committed to this goal and writing their personal objectives in a lofty fashion. This can be a good management exercise to experiment.
Well done Vineet. I just joined HCL T as a management trainee on 14th of May 2008. Heard about this article in my induction. But dint get a chance to have my hands on it. Now that i have read it, i am just trilled thinking about the VISION you have put while writing those powerful words "3 Rs", "inverts the pyramid", gen x employee style of "information-learning-collaborating". I just hope that is actually practised rather then just said and we will be your GENERATION NEXT managers.
Great thoughts vineet only Issue with "your" inverted styled pyramid is that a single "broken" node gives more stress on the underlying node and is more likely to buckle the pyramid or atleast give the root node more excessive pressure to buckle.
Guess that is the reason "lazy" non trusting managers aka nodes in the pyramid prefer is non-inverted.
Dear Sir,
I find your theory a mix of one minute management theory and 29 principles of Jack Welch. It’s really true the way of managing business is changing very rapidly and top level management is building a new kind of business environment to mentor its employees. But is it really helpful in transforming the business. I remember how much I and my colleagues are inspired by your Employee First, fast track, Blue Ocean and many other strategies. That time we had a home like feeling in HCL none of us had left HCL Technologies for its environment but for there carrier growth. As I have seen these changes in HCL technologies very closely, I have few questions for you: Is not it the failure of management if they are not able to provide proper carrier growth to there employees?Is not the growth of employee leads to growth of company?Is it necessary for an employee to have years of experience or charming business degrees before putting any proposal in front of top level management?Is it really possible that an employee at the lowest level can put a business idea in front of top management?Is not it possible that employee will take lead and run on his own with required support from management? I think I had asked a lot of question. I expect you will not take it otherwise and give answer to guide your employees. RegardsAshok Pundit
Interesting article. I think there is still the need for some one whose role is defined to be the CEO. But I agree that the first CEO should always put his or her efforts in creating an organization culture and structure that creates more CEOs who take full ownership for the destiny of their own businesses while delivering on the business goals. I think an extreme is when nearly every employee acts as the CEO. Merchant bankers, consulting companies and law firms already operate that way.
Getting excited is good. But writing something different for the sake of it would not work.
Structures cannot go away – they get redefined in new mind-sets. And, then, we accept it. As long as there is chaos, there will be structures. Even amoeba has a structure – our work/personal life cannot be more fluid than that.
CEO will be there – again, with a re-definition. Not the ultimate decision maker but at least as an ultimate decision facilitator. Once the CEO comes to this position, it will evolve again – so my comment would sound archaic at that time. Not today, though.
Express thoughts are gist of typical business literature that does not go anywhere. Karma Theory would take us – only if we assume the open mind-set. Else, we are already where we would be.
Hi Vineet. Good to see the reading of the thought in your mind. I and sure this can be achieved by you and your team. I really like your point of “Inverse Pyramid”. That is the need of the hour in today’s scenario. But considering the volume of work force and different mindset we need strong leaders who anytime know each and every risk and its mitigation to achieve this. Also I went thru the video of your green enablement in your industry which is really moved me. I am also one of the keen members working towards green economy. Your comment of working on the green project instead of preaching was the right point and that is the way in which I work.
Nice point and i saw many replies which went back to challenging whether organisations would adapt these aspects. Aravindan in his comment makes exactly the point that i want to make …. are these ideas radical… No… Management has evolved with the dynamics of customers, globalisation, markets and trade just to name a few. The rationale for this to happen has been explained quite well by Vineet but would it happen or be implemented well… they would be applied if the forces as explained by Vineet do come across on "managerial eco-system".
hi sir,
may i know what hcl is planning if us stop outsourcing form india, as Barack Obama is against outsourcing
Hi Vineet,
There is so much discussion, research and books being published on the role of "Managers", but do we have "Managers" in Indian organizations, who truly inspire their team and convert the team into a group of highly motivated, energetic, integrated bunch of people who are on the roll – achieving goal after goal with effortless ease?
Most of the "Managers" in the industry are trying to save their own skin by
- padding timelines instead of setting goals that push the limits of performance
- blaming team members (when something goes wrong) instead of being accountable and taking full ownership
- passing the buck to the higher management or the HR or someone else – they just don’t accept the fact that ‘the buck stops with them’
New techniques of productivity management measure performance by Lines-of-code or time spent in the office etc. But these are all very easy to fake.
A truly integrated, energetic team led by a competent manager will be visible to everyone – the vibes will inspire the entire organization. The team members will be proud to be a part of the team and in turn, proud to be a part of the organization.
I don’t know how many such inspired managers are there leading great teams – but I am sure this is rare.
The amount of material on this subject is huge, some resources could be:
- First, Break all Rules – by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
- ReImagine – by Tom Peters
- The whole ‘One Minute’ series by Ken Blanchard
But how many Managers are reading such material? How many are trying to be ‘inspiring leaders’?
Dear Vineet Sir,
I could not have agreed more on your contemplations especially on your correct understanding of the New generation of employees. You sound pretty radical for those who vehemently opposing your view may have to come to terms in a while once the heirarchies vanish and collective decisions are facilitated by top management and I wish you have all the courage to bring in the Most Modern thought of Management that transforms HCL and you become a Path maker for others to emulate.
Ravikumar
Ex-HCL employee
Hi Vineet
CEO and the manager role will evolve as one who inspire, make choices, act as enabler and mentor than a controlling. Real growth of an organisation that service industry is seeing for more than a decade is possible with employee involvement and participation. To that extent organisation will continue to become flatish if not reverse traiagle.
Jagadish Badi
Hello Vineet ,
Organisations need both managers and leaders. I believe CEO falls in the latter. Generals are required in the army , thinktanks are always needed in which team it may be however small the size is . Everyone acts like CEO(say destroying the office) can generate chaos and lead to disaster. Aspiring to be CEO is human and should not be looked down as crime. It is spotting the right person for CEO (and the office) which is important.
Good luck to CEO… the real ones can make difference !
Regards,
Arun
Hi Vineet Sir,
You have wasted a lot of my time today. I chanced upon this post and read a lot of your other thought provoking posts as well. I also wasted more time thinking about your posts
It is absolutely great to waste my time like this. Looking forward to reading and thinking more on your posts, most of which are absolutely great and inspiring!
Great work, sir!
Vineet, I agree that breaking the office of the CEO is a real courageous thought, considering the fact that it comes from a CEO himself. I truly appreciate the policies like "employee first" and "360 degree feedback" that are adopted to implement this idea but I still believe that more than anything else what is required is a change in attitude. Change not only in managers who would allow their offices to be destroyed but also a change in the mindset of the so called "followers" and a belief that yes they can and will make a difference. I have seen people even today say that "how does it matter?" but they need to believe that every one counts and every little action can make a difference. In many of the comments I have seen people discarding this philosophy by saying that it’s not practical and hence cannot be implemented. But I would like to say to all of them that at least we should try. If nothing happens we will be at the same place as we are today but if even a single person gets motivated and tries to "lead by example" then I think our purpose will be served. I don’t know how far this policy has been a success till date and how far it will be followed in the future, but I admire the fact that the foundation of change has been laid in HCL.Regards,Preeti Kaushik
Mr.Vineet Nayar, The fact that your blog on destroying the office of CEO is attracting comments even 10 months after it has been posted is proof enough that it is an extremely out of the box thinking and a very thought provoking article. Being an entrepreneur myself, from the earlier generation, I have personally experienced, how as a small scale industrialist you have no choice but to run the organisation like an inverted pyramid model and your thinking of applying this method for running large organisations is definitely laudable but how far practically possible is some thing to be pondered about.As regards your saying the 3R`s have to be redifined , I am not sure about that . My personal feeling is, if an individual, at whatever level he may be in the organisation, is sincere in his attempt to understand his responsibility, the response expected of him , he does not need anyone to police him except for laying down guidelines. You are definitely trying something that may appear to be radical in the way organisations should be managed and all my best wishes for your attempts to be successful. Regards Sethuraman
I feel you do need that someone who would come up to you and actually start implementing, or at least not just nodding, but picking up the spade and doing it! I wish you luck to find such a person… Someone who is able to give up his imperialistic attitude!
Maybe times have come… maybe it has not… But, at least guys at your level are acknowledging this fact is a milestone in development of "man in the cubicle".
Dear Vineet
My take on the subject.
I term the same thing as "power to the edges". It works wonderfully even in an intense life and death profession like mine. The possibilities in the area of "collaborative leadership" are immense. Flattened, empowered human chains sharing a common vision with humility and perseverance at the core of all their activities produce value way out of proportion and beat all other management jargon hollow.
The key to this empowerment is "here and now"…a sense of "fun and balance" and a deep sense of "attitude of gratitude". This kills careerism and generates self driven entities "swarming" to achieve the impossible. Yes it is all possible as "bare maharaj ji" used to say..it is all coming back now with so much of strength which only a true guru could have delivered..
"Sphere of influence" empowerment, the way bees and ants work on genetically endowed platforms needs to be learnt all over again by the B schools..
Vineet, Take this concept on the Indian streets. Destroy the "bada hi baap hai" social structure.