So who’s monkey is it anyway?
EmPower Research
July 12, 2007
By Sangita Joshi
It started at the Jethro Tull concert almost a year and a half ago. This concert was set, for the first time, in a leading business school (my alma mater, no less), and, I would assume, was supposed to test the ‘organizing’ abilities of a set of budding managers.
What set me thinking was a very casual response from the venue hosts – “we didn’t print the tickets, the event organizer did!” to a query about an error in the program ticket. This feeling got reinforced when we entered the concert arena. On hearing some audience complaints about the arrangements, one of the event organizer gang said – “hey, we didn’t do it – the B School did!”…Not unfamiliar words these to any of us in the corporate scenario -- and a sentiment very aptly described in a classic HBS case – “Monkey Off Your Back”.
Responsibility and accountability: Spread it evenly!
We actually used this case recently in an offsite to drive home a sense of taking ownership in a team. The issue at hand was one of the middle management finding itself burdened because it took on too much – this stretched bandwidth, resulting in errors – the point being made in our offsite was one of responsibility as well as accountability. Clearly, there was too little of it in the junior ranks, and maybe too much in the middle management – a situation that immediately needed addressing.
However, it does also underscore a very “chalta hai” attitude that is pervading Indian life – an attitude that – its OK to just get by, there is always someone else who will make sure that it gets done well…
Perfection: The hallmark of a “professional”
I have another angle to this story – in fact, it may even read a bit like one of those ‘crib’ website postings (examples abound – xxxxsucks.com/ bashyyyy.com etc), but it isn’t. What it is, is a lament for the lack of that all important element in the Indian corporate psyche (or perhaps the Indian psyche in general) – the striving for Perfection!
Yes, so India is making waves all across the world on its people power – we are nearing states of boycott for some countries (the US), and coming as a savior for others (Germany) – outsourcing and other people-related services are the current buzzwords – and a whole generation is becoming night birds And fuelling conspicuous consumption in the country due to the jingling pockets ….but, going by this ‘apathy to perfection’ syndrome – I sometimes wonder whether it is a bubble which will burst soon?
You may well ask what brought on this sudden vituperative attack – actually, it’s not one thing but a series of niggling problems – but what really took the cake is a recent (and ongoing) experience that I had with my telecom provider.
Now one would think that this is a sunrise industry in India – it’s all happening here – from government interference as well as support/ industry fragmentation as well as consolidation/ new product introductions/ penetration across town classes/ jobs/ advertising…you name it, and its there. Along the way, the industry has become fiercely competitive – so the marketing job for the players is two fold – expansion of the market (via increasing penetration) along with fight for market share. In this scenario, I would think that a customer who actively asks for your brand, and not only buys your phone, is an extremely heavy user to boot, deserves not only respect but some pampering even. After all, the customer is king, and a ‘loyal’ customer should be mined so that he/ she turns into an evangelist loyalist. But my experience is just the opposite. Here’s the story:
Train your sales force
I needed an ISD connection, so I bought a new phone from a private sector giant who is making serious forays into telecom as well as other fields. At the very beginning, I faced a strange situation – when accepting my instrument I casually asked the sales lady at the glitzy retail outlet whether the installation instructions were inside the instrument pack – and was told that installation doesn’t require any skill – it’s easy and so there’s no instruction book. Now this surprised me a bit (coming from a small appliance background myself, I remembered the harrowing hours spent designing, and then translating into 12 languages some fairly complicated and involved instruction booklets…), but I accepted her word, and opened the box – presto! The instruction booklet was there (as it HAD to be) but the sales lady wasn’t aware of it. So what did this marketer do wrong? Just forgot to impart basic training to the sales people!
Now it could be the ills of a franchising model of retail that knowledge doesn’t get passed through – or attributable to the high churn in sales clerks, but one would still think that basic product training is imperative, specially to sales persons – after all, they are the first and ultimate ‘face’ of your product to the consumer!
Care for your Customer!
I brought my phone home – and then had another tiresome couple of days setting up my voicemail box. The instructions were NOT on the instruction booklet, and the general lack of information across levels of the Customer Care Help lines did not help!
But my troubles didn’t end – they were only starting. So I started using my all new ISD line (for which I had paid a deposit) for frequent and long telecons to the States. To my utter horror, after a week or so, I found the line disconnected – so I called Customer Care as directed, and was told my usage was high! So??? was my question – so you have exceeded your credit limit, and you have to make payment at our drop box. But I haven’t received a bill!!! No, but you have exceeded your credit limit – so you have to make interim payment. But how am I supposed to know that I’ve exceeded my limit? No answer. Anyway, I paid up and called customer care again – and was told, sorry, we cannot re connect your ISD – it has to be done at the Web World. Web World, when called, said you have to come here personally (this is a telecom company, for heavens’ sake!!) – at which point my patience ran out, and I spoke with the manager explaining my predicament – even offered my two cents piece of advice about high-usage customers being cash cows – and therefore, a company wanting to milk them rather than strangling them !!! Anyway, that problem was resolved…..then!!!
Another two weeks – same problem! This time I saw an sms, paid up, called manager (I knew the short cut by now), and got reconnection.
2 weeks later, AGAIN – by this time, a bill had arrived – for an amount which was 1/3rd of what I’d already paid by now!! So, fed up, I called my friend the manager and said, look, this is clearly a problem – I AM a high usage customer – so, I suggest you increase my credit limit. Alternatively, at least send me bills oftener – once a week if required, so that I know I have to pay.
Try and Upsell, not downsell!
Then, in a move which was clearly great customer – friendliness on the manager’s part, but horrified my marketer’s heart, he advised me to buy the ISD dialing phone cards instead of using the ISD facility on my phone! (his argument was – these are cheaper, they save you money and you will not have these problems!) – I wonder what the sales guy’s reaction to a move like this would be – if he knew and if of course the sales guys’ targets were revenue generation. This of course, was a clever case of the managers’ taking the monkey off his back completely, and putting it on mine.
Well, no prizes for guessing what my next move was – yes, a shift of operators!
Monkeys can sit on many backs!
I would think a worse scenario for a corporate is that where the monkey sits on many backs together, with the result that no person takes responsibility for that action – we have a classic case of this in our receptionist and our admin assistant – issues like birthday parties organization, peon/ office boy reporting – are issues where we see things falling through the crack, and no one happy.
At a grander level, for a particular project, where the sales relationship manager and head of delivery both lead a project, there was a big last minute scramble and consequent blame game being passed on across stakeholders.
Lessons learned
The point in all these stories is relatively simple. We in the Indian corporate world need to display the following attributes:
Own up, and take responsibility for all that you can do – always
Take your responsibilities to perfection – no ‘chalta hai’
A customer is a valuable resource – mine him/ her thoughtfully
Have clear rules of accountability – no monkeys on multiple backs – We have now evolved ‘small groups’ in our organization that have clear responsibility for work as well as non work related activities – there is a group for the Training Calendar; another for Quality systems; One for Knowledge Updation, and another for Social Activities.
It is not enough to only have the groups, the ‘perfection’ really comes in when there is a continuous audit of the groups’ progress
In today’s world where there are many organizations dedicated to training and team building at different levels, and in many different ways, maybe we need someone to create a training program around the art of feeding the monkey on your back so it’s satisfied, rather than transferring him quickly to someone else!
It started at the Jethro Tull concert almost a year and a half ago. This concert was set, for the first time, in a leading business school (my alma mater, no less), and, I would assume, was supposed to test the ‘organizing’ abilities of a set of budding managers.
What set me thinking was a very casual response from the venue hosts – “we didn’t print the tickets, the event organizer did!” to a query about an error in the program ticket. This feeling got reinforced when we entered the concert arena. On hearing some audience complaints about the arrangements, one of the event organizer gang said – “hey, we didn’t do it – the B School did!”…Not unfamiliar words these to any of us in the corporate scenario -- and a sentiment very aptly described in a classic HBS case – “Monkey Off Your Back”.
Responsibility and accountability: Spread it evenly!
We actually used this case recently in an offsite to drive home a sense of taking ownership in a team. The issue at hand was one of the middle management finding itself burdened because it took on too much – this stretched bandwidth, resulting in errors – the point being made in our offsite was one of responsibility as well as accountability. Clearly, there was too little of it in the junior ranks, and maybe too much in the middle management – a situation that immediately needed addressing.
However, it does also underscore a very “chalta hai” attitude that is pervading Indian life – an attitude that – its OK to just get by, there is always someone else who will make sure that it gets done well…
Perfection: The hallmark of a “professional”
I have another angle to this story – in fact, it may even read a bit like one of those ‘crib’ website postings (examples abound – xxxxsucks.com/ bashyyyy.com etc), but it isn’t. What it is, is a lament for the lack of that all important element in the Indian corporate psyche (or perhaps the Indian psyche in general) – the striving for Perfection!
Yes, so India is making waves all across the world on its people power – we are nearing states of boycott for some countries (the US), and coming as a savior for others (Germany) – outsourcing and other people-related services are the current buzzwords – and a whole generation is becoming night birds And fuelling conspicuous consumption in the country due to the jingling pockets ….but, going by this ‘apathy to perfection’ syndrome – I sometimes wonder whether it is a bubble which will burst soon?
You may well ask what brought on this sudden vituperative attack – actually, it’s not one thing but a series of niggling problems – but what really took the cake is a recent (and ongoing) experience that I had with my telecom provider.
Now one would think that this is a sunrise industry in India – it’s all happening here – from government interference as well as support/ industry fragmentation as well as consolidation/ new product introductions/ penetration across town classes/ jobs/ advertising…you name it, and its there. Along the way, the industry has become fiercely competitive – so the marketing job for the players is two fold – expansion of the market (via increasing penetration) along with fight for market share. In this scenario, I would think that a customer who actively asks for your brand, and not only buys your phone, is an extremely heavy user to boot, deserves not only respect but some pampering even. After all, the customer is king, and a ‘loyal’ customer should be mined so that he/ she turns into an evangelist loyalist. But my experience is just the opposite. Here’s the story:
Train your sales force
I needed an ISD connection, so I bought a new phone from a private sector giant who is making serious forays into telecom as well as other fields. At the very beginning, I faced a strange situation – when accepting my instrument I casually asked the sales lady at the glitzy retail outlet whether the installation instructions were inside the instrument pack – and was told that installation doesn’t require any skill – it’s easy and so there’s no instruction book. Now this surprised me a bit (coming from a small appliance background myself, I remembered the harrowing hours spent designing, and then translating into 12 languages some fairly complicated and involved instruction booklets…), but I accepted her word, and opened the box – presto! The instruction booklet was there (as it HAD to be) but the sales lady wasn’t aware of it. So what did this marketer do wrong? Just forgot to impart basic training to the sales people!
Now it could be the ills of a franchising model of retail that knowledge doesn’t get passed through – or attributable to the high churn in sales clerks, but one would still think that basic product training is imperative, specially to sales persons – after all, they are the first and ultimate ‘face’ of your product to the consumer!
Care for your Customer!
I brought my phone home – and then had another tiresome couple of days setting up my voicemail box. The instructions were NOT on the instruction booklet, and the general lack of information across levels of the Customer Care Help lines did not help!
But my troubles didn’t end – they were only starting. So I started using my all new ISD line (for which I had paid a deposit) for frequent and long telecons to the States. To my utter horror, after a week or so, I found the line disconnected – so I called Customer Care as directed, and was told my usage was high! So??? was my question – so you have exceeded your credit limit, and you have to make payment at our drop box. But I haven’t received a bill!!! No, but you have exceeded your credit limit – so you have to make interim payment. But how am I supposed to know that I’ve exceeded my limit? No answer. Anyway, I paid up and called customer care again – and was told, sorry, we cannot re connect your ISD – it has to be done at the Web World. Web World, when called, said you have to come here personally (this is a telecom company, for heavens’ sake!!) – at which point my patience ran out, and I spoke with the manager explaining my predicament – even offered my two cents piece of advice about high-usage customers being cash cows – and therefore, a company wanting to milk them rather than strangling them !!! Anyway, that problem was resolved…..then!!!
Another two weeks – same problem! This time I saw an sms, paid up, called manager (I knew the short cut by now), and got reconnection.
2 weeks later, AGAIN – by this time, a bill had arrived – for an amount which was 1/3rd of what I’d already paid by now!! So, fed up, I called my friend the manager and said, look, this is clearly a problem – I AM a high usage customer – so, I suggest you increase my credit limit. Alternatively, at least send me bills oftener – once a week if required, so that I know I have to pay.
Try and Upsell, not downsell!
Then, in a move which was clearly great customer – friendliness on the manager’s part, but horrified my marketer’s heart, he advised me to buy the ISD dialing phone cards instead of using the ISD facility on my phone! (his argument was – these are cheaper, they save you money and you will not have these problems!) – I wonder what the sales guy’s reaction to a move like this would be – if he knew and if of course the sales guys’ targets were revenue generation. This of course, was a clever case of the managers’ taking the monkey off his back completely, and putting it on mine.
Well, no prizes for guessing what my next move was – yes, a shift of operators!
Monkeys can sit on many backs!
I would think a worse scenario for a corporate is that where the monkey sits on many backs together, with the result that no person takes responsibility for that action – we have a classic case of this in our receptionist and our admin assistant – issues like birthday parties organization, peon/ office boy reporting – are issues where we see things falling through the crack, and no one happy.
At a grander level, for a particular project, where the sales relationship manager and head of delivery both lead a project, there was a big last minute scramble and consequent blame game being passed on across stakeholders.
Lessons learned
The point in all these stories is relatively simple. We in the Indian corporate world need to display the following attributes:
Own up, and take responsibility for all that you can do – always
Take your responsibilities to perfection – no ‘chalta hai’
A customer is a valuable resource – mine him/ her thoughtfully
Have clear rules of accountability – no monkeys on multiple backs – We have now evolved ‘small groups’ in our organization that have clear responsibility for work as well as non work related activities – there is a group for the Training Calendar; another for Quality systems; One for Knowledge Updation, and another for Social Activities.
It is not enough to only have the groups, the ‘perfection’ really comes in when there is a continuous audit of the groups’ progress
In today’s world where there are many organizations dedicated to training and team building at different levels, and in many different ways, maybe we need someone to create a training program around the art of feeding the monkey on your back so it’s satisfied, rather than transferring him quickly to someone else!
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