Message from MD – November 2016

It has been a wonderful month, which experienced hard work, sincere approaches, wise decisions, brilliant ideas, and fruitful results. AWESOME OCTOBER. The team made it happen. Kudos to the leaders and performers for the unique uplift at all levels of business. The customer meet at Doha, ‘ Mehfil 3,’ was a great success. The triannual talk, in connection with World Habitat Day , ‘Beyond Square Feet,’ was another big hit. The month also witnessed the foundation stone-laying ceremony of three projects, one each at Trivandrum, Kottayam and Cochin.

Friends, when we say every success is a team result, then there has to be a leader with many ardent followers who passionately drive success. October being the appraisal month, many of you might have undergone stressful moments, sitting in front of your reporting boss. Whether you’re a CMT member or an SMT member, your team is just as important as a group as its members are as individuals. Today companies offer many perks to attract and retain the best employees. We also offer competitive salaries, training and the promise of success, professionally and financially. But how we treat them as individuals can determine the way their DNA will impact the fabric of our organization. What are you doing, as their boss, is the most important thing, to make sure they are satisfied and making the best contribution to the organization.

Many of you have been managing more than 25 direct subordinates over the course of your career with Asset Homes. From the nerdiest, the most introverted to the highly extroverted. They’ve been on either side – up to 10 years senior or junior to you – and varying genders. No matter what their role, experience, proximity or personality, you have to always make their one-on-ones a priority.

• Making time for an individual shows we care for them as a person.
• The 1:1 is the only forum where we can have an honest, private conversation with each other about what’s really going on—professionally and personally.
• This is a routine opportunity for us, as leaders, to assess our employees who make the productive whole, which we all know is more powerful.
• A leader who makes time for their team member, especially those who are also leaders, is less likely to suffer poor team performance because of ambiguity and mistrust. Each 1:1 is an opportunity to clarify the goals of the organization and our performance expectations, and to build a trusting relationship with the subordinates by getting to know them as people, not just workers.
• Finally, constructive 1:1s throughout the year make performance reviews a breeze. With routine 1:1s, review time can be more about goals and the year ahead instead of constructive feedback from the past.

Each one-to-one meeting should be preplanned well. You have to set expectations and a detailed agenda. All of us should invest time to do proper meeting and post meeting follow-ups. Ultimately we have to invest in our team. One-on-ones can make all the difference in how we lead. Our time invested in doing them right will pay off not only with each individual, but with how our organization functions as a team.

Friends, as an organization, we always try to set high standards of professionalism, ethics and honesty on all walks of business. Human resource is the key factor to be addressed always, to keep the said momentum. Knowledge and transparency about the professional and personal balance sheet of a subordinate is the key tool of the boss to strike the deal. Wish you all a wonderful November ahead.