Message From MD – June 2018

Dear friends,

The first two months of the financial year is now behind us. For those of you who are on track to achieve your annual goal, congratulations! For those of you who need to catch-up in the coming months of the year, do not despair – you can still make this a successful year. First, realize that despite some geopolitical instability, most of the state economies in India are growing. Spending is up slightly, with reasonable sales growth rate annually. These are not the worst of times, though it may feel that way. Buyers are highly risk-averse and cautious about their purchase decisions, but you can still exceed your goals if you take the right actions .That was the magic of May. The sales and collection figures grown almost 75% than the previous month. What a miraculous come back!

Evidence repeatedly shows that turning around a team starts with turning around the senior management team. SMT members are uniquely positioned to influence and empower the lower level team members to greater levels of success, but SMT members sometimes become so busy and distracted that they neglect their own professional development as they get caught up trying to survive the latest fire drill. It only takes insight into three key areas to dramatically increase the positive impact, the managers can make on the whole team: Alignment, Motivation, and Performance.

As I continue to work with many of the SMT members for more than five years, I have discovered that highly effective managers have a set of skills and characteristics in common that set them above all the rest, and which enable them to help their teams to achieve results that are also much above industry average. I would like to point out five such skills exhibited in common by our performers among the leaders.

Few managers rely too much on metrics and deadlines to drive performance. But highly effective managers always find numerous ways to come alongside team members to motivate and reward them in a social format that brings out the best in them in a way that inspires everyone. They don’t rely on theoretical or arbitrary programs to drive team performance. They always keep targets that are practical, comfortable, and therefore more natural.  Of course, behavior that feels more natural will always work better and longer than activities that don’t. They always hire the best talent available and save loads of time and money on training while protecting themselves from failure, six months down the road. It costs more up front, but it definitely pays off over time. An integral part of a consistent winning cadence is the tone and the topics of communications of the leader with team members. Nothing is more important to members than knowing what is expected of them and when it is expected. Effective managers keep their communication clear and their expectations well defined, so that team members know what to aim for, and understand what will happen if they hit it or not. All effective managers realize that placing a high priority on coaching will build confidence and drive production for their team better and faster than any other single practice. Therefore, they take advantage of every opportunity, scheduled or unscheduled, to provide feedback that will make their team members perform better.

Dear leaders, it is very important to understand the difference between pipeline and forecasting. Forecasting is focused on late stage deals. It does little to help with future quarters. Pipeline is focused on the future development of all activities, especially sales, collection and construction, which ultimately impacts later forecasts. Many of us don’t differentiate or understand the difference between the two. Keep this in mind when aligning new goals for the future days. A clear picture about what is in pipeline and what is the forecast will definitely help us to achieve the goals comfortably. Wish you all a successful closure of first quarter of FY 18.

Warm regards
Sunil Kumar.