We Are Changing
Our Work Culture, One Step at A Time
…Meet Mr.
Change Management
His name is
synonymous with the term Change Management because of how impassioned he is
about it. According to him, his ultimate aim is to re-orientate employees with
a new set of values that makes leaving their comfort zone easy.
He wants to,
among many other things, erase the formalities in workplace that make work
cumbersome. “Work relationship should be easy enough for quick results”.
Meet Captain
Sanjeev Kaushik, the Capacity Building & Change Management Expert cum Chief
Corporate Services Officer of Kaduna Electric, a Motivational Speaker and adept
in the areas of Change Management, Leadership and other behavioural skills. He
speaks with our correspondent about his passion and many other issues
concerning his work.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Captain
Sanjeev Kaushik. I am an Indian from Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited. I am
a Military man, an Ex-Infantry Officer of Indian Army. I have donned the
olive green Army uniform for 10 years and soon after the completion of my Army
tenure, I joined Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited. I am a Management Graduate
from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi which is one of the
leading Business Schools in India and I am also equipped with a Bachelors and a
Master degree in Law from the same university.
I joined Kaduna
Electric at the capacity of Expert, Change Management and Capacity building and
I am presently officiating the office of Chief Corporate Service Officer. My
task in Kaduna Electric is to equip the organisation with the all the relevant knowledge
and wisdom that I gathered while working under various assignments in Indian Army
and TATA Power apart from the knowledge that I have
acquired while pursuing education which I pursued parallel with my employment. I
work with two fundamental propositions, ‘A
journey of thousand miles begins with a single step’ and ‘good workman never blames his tools’.
There has been
a lot of talk about restructuring the company, tell us about it.
Today’s world is of
quick decision-making for which, we require horizontal organizational structures.
The lesser hierarchy in the organization, the lesser the difference between Managers
and workers. In such an arrangement, workers will feel more close to the
management which will result into development of more understanding and
cohesiveness. Horizontal configurations removes excess layers of management and
improves the coordination and speed of communication which leads to easier and
quick decision-making. It cannot be said that hierarchical organizations are not
good but Kaduna Electric is such a huge organisation where there are several
divisions that require quick decision making.
We must not live
in a bureaucratic environment where there is a huge gap between the decision maker
and the employee who is executing the decision on the ground. Today’s world is
about working together, collaboration, work cohesiveness and understanding or in
other words you can say that it’s just like living in family where there is
close understanding and affection between the family members.
What is likely
to be the impact of restructuring on staff productivity?
After
privatization, Kaduna Electric has seen several structures, when we joined here
as technical partners we perceive those structures to be complex and consequently,
a decision was taken to overhaul the system by simplifying it.
The impact is
going to be evident in two ways, firstly, it has been observed that in multiple
layers, shape of original communication changes its form during its flow till
it reaches the ground worker. This possibility can be minimized the if the structure
is other way around, secondly the worker by working in close association with
management is going to feel himself more empowered and elevated apart the
feeling of working in close association.
Actual leadership
is not by the virtue of the position that one is holding. It is the respect
that one commands when people see him as a leader in their hearts, it is
something when people speak good about you at your back. Our endeavour here is
to put in efforts to minimize the gap of superior and inferior. The first step
towards it is elimination of bureaucratic mindset by minimizing hierarchical
difference.
We have a policy
in TATA Power – DDL named ‘Meet the MD’, where any employee can request to see
the MD in person which would not amount to bypassing because we believe that
prior to being adorned with designations, we all are humans and deserve respect
and dignity. This is the kind of the culture we have in TATA.
The Conditions
of Service was recently signed, what is its significance?
Can you imagine a
country without Constitution? Imagine a situation where there is no law. Conditions
of Service document is also like a ‘Constitution of Employees’ which governs
their terms of employment. Prior of manifestation of Conditions of Service,
decisions were being made either by referring the vintage PHCN CoS or on the
basis of assumptions, impulse or gut feeling. Employees were also confused and doubtful
in regard to their various entitlements, benefits and facilities i.e. career
path, performance management, disciplinary process, exit token etc. Now,
everything has been clarified. Now, there is no confusion and doubt, everything
has been defined and mentioned in the document. If in any case there exist some
doubt, employees are free to communicate and visit our offices.
Let’s take an
example, for instance, when a misconduct has been reported, the accused must be
extended with the opportunity of fair hearing which is also imperative as per
the Principles of Natural Justice. This provision has explicitly been incorporated
in Conditions of Service.
The document has
been finalized by collaboration with both the in-house Unions who were the part
of discussions. The discussions were held in very cordial and harmonious
environment and finally on 30th of Jan 2019 we gave life to this
document. It is a milestone that has been achieved by Kaduna Electric and
welcome by both i.e. the Management as the Union(s). By signing this document,
we became the 04th DISCO in Nigeria who achieved this breakthrough.
It also indicates that Management of Kaduna Electric is committed towards the well being of workers.
Challenges…
The challenge is known
to anyone. Good things never come easily. Performance is not going to come of
its own automatically. There are numerous factors that are contributing towards
the under-performance and out of many, the prime factor is the non-engagement
of employees. Till the time the employees of the organisation feel associated
with the organization and have a sense of belonging, the challenges will
continue.
Solutions…
Employee
Engagement is the solution. Employees needs to contribute not as an employee of
the organisation but as a member of the Kaduna Electric family. Here comes the
role of leaders, they need to make people feel that they are not mere staff.
They need make them feel that Kaduna Electric is not an organisation but a
family and each and every member of the family is important and an integral
part of it.
Secondly, we must
be quick in decision making and must adhere to timelines. It is the right of every employee to know how
they are performing. Good performers are required to be recognised and for
average/ below average we need to have a good performance improvement plans in
place. We are also trying to revamp the existing PMS system to ensure that
every employee of the organisation is aligned with company’s Vison &
Mission and objectives.
Resources are
always scarce and are going to be scarce only. It is the fundamental law of
Economics. Moreover, this scarcity becomes more challenging when it is
associated with poor performance. It has already been said above that a good
workman never blames his tools. We have to operate within the existing resources
and constraints. We know where our money is, the only requirement is to push
ourselves to extract it. It may be painful in the beginning but the result is
going to be very sweet.
It is high time
that we all must take ourselves out of our comfort zone. Leaders here have a
very vital role to play. They need to lead by personal examples and the people work
and perform.
My task…
What is expected
has already been said, however, our task is to fine tune the minds of people to
work their hearts and soul for the organisation, to minimize the superior
subordinate gap, make people feel important and engaged, and working within the
existing resources and constraints. Now, you are going to ask ‘How?’, it is
simple, ‘Communication and taking lead’ is the key, keep on talking,
interacting people formally as well as informally, by training, re-training and
de-training, by taking the lead to initiate work and to re-orientate people to work
without fuss; although it is easy to say but is the most challenging task.
How do you
relax? Have you found Indian places where you can socialize in Kaduna?
During my time as
an ex-military officer, various hobbies were developed which is aimed at keeping
the mind creative and alive. Books are my favorites- I brought about 25 books from
India which is my favorite pastime. Another is Chess (here there is no other
option but to play online). Writing and listening to Urdu Poetry is the another
favorite pastime apart from talking to the family and the cute Puppy ‘Jack’, watching
of war documentaries to learn good leadership, motivation and decision making
skills from military leaders and last but not the least, interaction with
employees with an open heart.
