Business Process and Simplicity

While on vacation in India, I had to figure out the  right customer service to call for a service issue with my local bank. Interesting: I can operate my bank account from anywhere on the web. I cannot speak to "one number" that could fix my issue. The poor CSR on the call uses words like "sir - you can check using the IVR - blah blah". And this is supposed to be the one of the leading fastest growing banks here in India.

Did I tell you that the calls get disconnected immediately when I get transferred?

While growth pains are inevitable, the process needs to improve, and achieve simplicity - no matter what geo the customer calls you from, no matter what channel the customer contacts you, and prompt follow up emails are essential.

Wrong tools for the right change

Are you using the right tools for Change in your organization?

Recent headlines in India are all about two leaders (Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare) trying to bring about changes in the law to rule out corruption.
Both the leaders used moral virtue as a platform to highlight the social evil of corruption in government.
Both leaders adopted non-violent hunger strike - the same technique efffectively used by Mahatma Gandhi when fighting for Indian Independence- to force the government to pass laws banning corruption and bring senior leaders under that law. They are barely successful in their efforts.
You can pass laws, but you cannot make individuals change their behavior unless positive change is recognized, encouraged and celebrated.

How does the business world do this

Businesses try to bring about change in their organizations every day -to be more competitive, to increase customer service, to perform operations faster, to innovate and perform the same tasks at a lower cost.
In corporations, employees are provided incentives when they adopt the desired behavior. They are encouraged collectively and individual successes are celebrated when behavioral changes occur and desired results are demonstrated.

I have seen many change efforts in companies, which invested millions in systems, not investing enough thought and efforts in encouraging change in behavior in their teams.

So the two leaders might learn something from this. They may ultimately succeed in getting the law passed. They will celebrate a momentary triumph. Ultimate and lasting change in corrupt behavior will occur when they spread the culture of integrity, passion for people doing their jobs for salary without demanding a bribe.

Successful campaigns for change adopt a very personal story ( a specific individual or a specific event) that touches emotions of love, hunger and values  family, community etc.

None of the campaigns that I have read about these two leaders touch on these aspects of change.

What are your observations on change and how did you succeed in deploying a change in behavior in your organization?

What is Inner Peace

Last week I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 movie. My daughter asked me this question where do you get inner peace if you want to get it. I think I finally got it in a devious way.

You are very unhappy when you don't have inner peace.
You are always asking, searching and (worst) sad when you don't have inner peace.
Others know it when you have inner peace.

Forget Coupons - now Free eBooks to sell eBooks

If you are an avid reader like me on a budget for books and you have an eReader, you are left with reading from the limited eBooks selection offered by your library.

The evolution of this publishing segment is fascinating.
Amazon has finally decided to partner with Overdrive and allow public library books to be borrowed and read on Kindle. Once that happens, the number of devices that permit borrowing of books will grow exponentially.

Now RosettaBooks is giving away 5 eBooks to increase their (poor sales). What's in it for the publisher? They get the email addresses and contact information of potential customers by giving away royalty free books that were not selling well anyway!

Me - I am looking forward to eBooks being released without Digital Rights Management. This happened when Apple used its marketing muscle to dispense with Rights Management - allowing you to download music once and then allowing you to share/ use it with your friends or on multiple devices.