Six Buckets of Opportunities

It was one fine afternoon in the third week of January, 2014 when I was browsing Times of India online edition. A famed newspaper, that now carries less news and more gossip (at least the online one). As I was checking sports news, suddenly, the web site popped up a question “Who is the father of Indian economic liberalization?” with two options namely Manmohan Singh and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Usually, I stay away from such surveys because once you answer that question, it would open up 5 more web pages. But this was an interesting question. It was an interesting question not only because it is as complicated as “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” but it is also interesting because that duo has changed the country forever, in 1990s. Whether it is for good or for bad, but for sure, they played a key role in shaping the modern India.

One thing with such surveys is, you can’t see the score unless you answer it! My curiosity got better of me and wanted me to answer that question just to see who is leading. As I was about to answer, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw my good friend, Baba Khan.

“Hey buddy, what’s up?” I wished him

“As usual man. Wanted to chat with you on something!?” he was pushing me from my chair

“Okay, let’s go to cafeteria” I started walking with him

We picked up our coffee and sat down at a corner.

“So, tell me” I asked

“Well, I got caught off guard today with a team member of mine” he replied

“On, what!?” I was curious

“As part of setting the objectives and goals for this year, I sat with a team member today and while discussing one of the goals, I told him, you need to proactively identify improvement opportunities and execute them” he paused

“Okay. That’s the standard goal we set every year, right!?” I nodded in agreement

“Yeah…that’s where the trouble was. When I was done discussing that goal, he was like ‘Okay, I will try. But here is the question for you Baba. This is the second year in a row, you set me this goal and you also said I didn’t do well last year. So, help me understand, how I can identify proactively? You tell me 10 broad areas where I can look for and I will take it from there. Without giving any scope or any help, it’s not easy just looking around. Show me 10 buckets and I will come back with proactive improvement opportunities. But if you can’t show me those 10 buckets, please take this off from my goal list’ ” Baba concluded the reaction from his team member

“Wow. He practically ragged you” I was surprised

“Yeah…and I didn’t even have any response. I accepted the reality in his question and promised to get back to him as well as to entire team in couple of weeks” he sounded like a sincere manager

“Okay…so, your challenge is to list down those 10 buckets” I was confirming my understanding

“Of course, buddy. Need some help! I can think of one or two areas. But it’s not hitting me in a comprehensive way” he was sipping his coffee faster

“Well, you caught me off guard too. I don’t know if I have any readymade answer. I can think of one or two options top of mind, but I think it’s worth spending some quality time on this topic” I gave halfhearted answer

“Okay, take your time, but do tell me what you find out in about a week’s time and I will share what I can find. I am sure you need to set similar goal for your teams as well” he made a deal

“Sure. I am travelling over the weekend and will try to drop you a note” I emptied my cup

Three days later, as I was flipping between the channels in my Charlotte hotel room, I came across a paid program. It was review of a book titled “Free Money – They don’t want you to know about”. A host was interviewing the author, Kevin Trudeau

Just like any other commercial, he was trying to sell the book hard. His point of view was, there are so many grants that US federal government and state governments offer but general public isn’t aware of it. He kind of lists down 7 or 8 different grants and the final grant he listed was very interesting. He said, as you apply for various grants and waiting to receive the funds, there is another grant whose purpose is to pay you for the waiting time!

And he continued to say that, there is so much money lying in front of us and we don’t even look at it. That was my Nirvana moment. That’s when it hit me about the opportunities.

Opportunities must have to be in front of us. We just need to wear the right glasses to see them. They can’t be hidden in neighbor’s closet nor can they be hidden in Fort Knox vaults. If my work is in front of me, if my customer is in front of me, if my team is in front of me, if my manager is in front of me (well, sometimes behind me), then, the opportunities must also be in front of me. The only question is, which lens is you are wearing!?

But first, let’s define what an improvement is. Some call it process improvement, some call it continuous improvement, and some call it Kaizen. No matter, what you call, an improvement activity is not about filling goal sheets or not about showing bright spots in the metrics charts. Real definition of improvement, at work, is:

“The proud feeling that you get about something new that you discovered or accomplished that day, about your professional self, as you lay your back to rest and close your eyes”

On that note, consider the below picture that presents various buckets where you can search for opportunities.

My Manager:

The easiest place to look for opportunities is your supervisor or manager. You spend some quality time with your manager; she or he can talk about at least two things:

The challenges that she or he facing and the 6 or 12 month vision that she or he has for the team. So, once you understand what those challenges are, you could volunteer to help with some of them. That’s a big window of opportunities. Additionally, once you get to know, what are the future plans for the team, you could raise your hand and own couple of those ideas. For example, your manager might say, “Defining the right metrics for the team is a challenge right now” or she might say “6 months from now, we should have the best status reporting in the organization”.

By the way, if your manager can’t talk much about neither of these, you are perhaps working for the wrong manager!

My Team:

The second easiest place to look for opportunities is your team. No matter, whether your team is big or small, each one would present different personality. Some are bright and sharp and some are dull. Some guys are better than you in some stuff and you are better than some of them in other stuff. Then, why can’t you learn from some and help the rest learn something from you. Learning could be about your application or process or systems that you are supporting or could be about technology or about business.

For example, Jaya might be pretty good with Excel macros and you might have better domain knowledge than Richard. So, why not create an environment where you can learn from each other?

By the way, you are not thinking “If I help him, he might know as much as me and might get away with 5 or 4 rating next time. Maybe, I shouldn’t help him”. Are you?

Whom would you fondly remember from your college days? The guy, who was the best notes master but never shared or the average guy who was always ready to share? So, get on, life is not a race. Just think about how you would like to be remembered 5 years from now.

Again, it doesn’t have to be your immediate team. Look at other teams that are supporting a similar process or application or system as you are. Understand where they doing better and where they are not. So you can exchange ideas. Improvement opportunities don’t always have to be for you. You could help others!

My Friends:

When that friend from Oracle or TCS calls you, would you just crib about your bosses and the working culture in each other’s company or would you also spend some time talking about the new trends that are making noise in each other’s company?

This bucket is quite similar to “My Team”. Only difference is, it could open up much bigger basket of opportunities if you explore it productively. Without crossing the limits of proprietary information, wouldn’t it be cool, if you can tell your team or manager about the new cool stuff that’s happening outside and how you guys can also try it?

My Knowledge:

With “Know More”, you can say “no more” on the questions about improvement opportunities because more knowledge you have, more opportunities you can explore. The world today is played by knowledgeable people. More knowledge you have, more leverage you get. So, can we honestly do a reality check and see how knowledgeable we are when compared to our peers?

Can you say “I am totally better than my colleagues or acquaintances Jay, Evelyn, Pasha, Daniel and Joe Montana”? If the answer is yes, you are a genius and should retire! But if the answer is no, list down the pieces that you can get better at and there you have the list!

My Work:

Can you say “I know EVERYTHING about the work that I do”? That EVERYTHING includes nuts and bolts of the applications, processes and systems that you are supporting. If the answer is yes, then, you are already a genius. You are working in a wrong place! But if the answer is no, list down what are the pieces that you are not entirely confident about. Have you listed? Did you just realize, you now have a list of opportunities in front of you!!!?

If that’s not enough, look at the activities that you have been performing for the past 12 months or so. Now, start analyzing how were you doing it 10 or 12 months before and how are you executing them now? Are you doing faster, cheaper and better? If the answer is yes, you are already on the right track. If the answer is no, look at how you can improve your productivity. Lesser time you spend on routine activities, more utilized you can be on additional opportunities.

Additionally, have you explored any automation that can be done on the activities that you or your team does? Maybe you can download a freeware from online or maybe you can write a macro in excel or word and automate part of the work you do.

How knowledgeable are you about the upstream and downstream systems around the work you do. Do you know how the information gets processed before it comes to you and how the downstream system uses the information that you pass on? Experience repeatedly tells us that, often times, a tweak here or a tweak there might make life so much easier for upstream or downstream systems! In these kinds of scenarios, collaboration is synonymous with improvement opportunities!

My Career:

This is the most important bucket! Obviously, right? Who wouldn’t want to have a better career? Only question is, how are you preparing yourself? Have you compared the skills, competencies and attributes that you got with someone whose is above a level or two?

Oh, wait, are you asking me isn’t it too soon to compare yourself with your skip level? Maybe yes…but here is the question. Do you always want to “follow” your next level or are you also interested in jumping a level at times? Like how some of those smart kids skip a class and go the next one directly, in school!

Again, it doesn’t have to be just for skipping a level, it should be more about expanding your learning appetite.

So, as I pass this list to Baba Khan, do you have more to add? Then, go ahead and type them in the comments!