Collaborative painting

I found collaborative painting a great idea to create a unique gift for someone or an activity to break ice. Giving below some examples that I tried out:

This is when some 20+ senior managers including the India and France CEOs came together to create two paintings - a Monet and an Indian flavour. Most of the members had not painted after school days! The 100 minute painting exercise brought them closer. One of the paintings is now in our Paris office and the other in Bangalore.




van Gogh's "Sunflowers". Three of us created a birthday gift for our cousin. He just loved it.




van Gogh's 'Starry night" - This is the one when our senior was leaving and we were struggling to identify a suitable gift for him. My colleagues and I got together and created this. It is now a prize collection for my senior.

Try it out; one more idea on how to become immortal!

My wow moments with the famous Seattle Fishthrowers

Photo credit - picryl

What is common among Sri Sri RaviShankar an Indian spiritual head, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple, Mr. Ping from the Kung Fu Panda movie and the Seattle Fishmongers of Pike Place Fish Market?

They all can articulate their inspiring philosophies in few clear words.

RaviShankar says, “Listen to the sounds, listen to your breathing.”;
Steve Jobs says, “You've got to find what you love. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.”;
Mr. Ping says, “To make something special you just have to believe it’s special.”;
And the Seattle fishmongers say, “Make a world famous difference, to every single human life you touch”.
Simple statements, enormous possibilities.

It was no coincidence, therefore, that my first priority on reaching Seattle, WA, was to meet the famous fishmongers at the Pike Place Market.
And I did meet them and how.

You will ask me, "What's so special about these fishmongers?". Let me tell you.

They converted their ordinary workplace into an EXTRA ORDINARY learning institute. They are an example of how an energising organisation is run. They go out, in turns, to teach management to the senior leadership of global organisation. Their training videos have become a must-watch training material in most organisations. Books written around their work philosophy are bestsellers...........

Their small shop, Pike Place Fish Market, is one of the fifty odd shops set up for the local artisans on Pike Street, Seattle. All these shops sell fish, flowers, or souvenirs created by local craftsmen.

The reason why tourists throng this particular shop is to watch the positivity created by the employees, all 12 of them. You will see each of them fully charged to work and to serve all through the day.

A typical scene is like this: If you buy, say, a salmon from the stall, the fishmonger attending to you will pick it up and throw it to the cashier with a loud call, “One big salmon flying all the way to you.”All the remaining fishmongers shout after him, “One big salmon flying all the way to you.”
Sometimes, you will hear a big energetic shout, “Two huge crabs coming your way” followed by a shout from the crowd, “Two huge crabs coming your way”. Some other time, you will see them playing with children who came to watch the famous fish throwers. You will sometimes see them nudging one of their customers to go near the cash counter and catch the flying fish coming their way. You will see every one of them celebrating every bit of their work life, all the time.

Throughout the day, there is a big crowd of tourists around the shop to watch the action and to capture the excitement on camera.

I promised myself that I would meet them.

I knew that they started their work at 6:30 in the morning. So I reach the shop early morning and introduce myself. They are happy to include me in their huddle, their first activity for the day. Exactly at 6:30, they all huddle up and start with an inspiring story that emphasises how their attitude for the day is going to impact their customers’ happiness. After sharing a few such stories amongst the team, they break out of the huddle with a victory cry and start the next act of the day, which is to set up the shop beautifully. The shop must be ready at 8 am.
I request for someone to be allocated as my boss. Jake, a fish monger, becomes my boss. He gives me a pair of gloves and asks me to weed out mussels and broken clams from the huge tub of clam. After that, I help him set up the salmons.
In between, Jake talks to me about how important it is to make the right choices in life. He says, “You know, when I reach home, I have a small baby to attend to, so that my wife can do the cooking. I am dead tired, but then I go back to what I learn and practice each day in my work place, which is, one has to make a choice about attitude; to choose to be positive or not so positive. I pick up the one I am used to – being positive and making a difference, a world of difference. After I have made this choice, my life and the lives of people around me becomes totally different. It is fun.”

Then, Sam, another fish monger, comes along and gifts me one of their books – ‘When Fish Fly”. I request all of them to autograph the cover page. They are happy to do it. Sam then narrates some great stories about the team. He shares the story of how a couple of them travelled to meet a small girl who was hospitalised and wished to meet the famous fishmongers and how they did the fish-throwing act right in the middle of the hospital ward to bring a smile on her face.
We set up the shop exactly at 8:00 a.m., complete with ‘signature boards’, such as ‘We are the world famous fish place’, and are ready to welcome the customers.

My job is complete. I got what I wanted to get, from “The World Famous Fish People”, as they like to be called. I take off waving the team a good bye.

What a team! What a sense of pride in what they do for their living!
What a philosophy – “Making a world famous difference to every single human life they touch!”
And what a way to really LIVE the philosophy each moment of each day.
I worked with them for only hundred minutes and came back with a great message about life.
Wow!

It's so easy to publish your book today

In good old days it was only the 'chosen ones' who wrote and published books. When you submitted a manuscript for publishing, you would get a cold response - we will contact you after six months. Please do not contact us before that.

Today, anyone who choses to write and publish a book, he/ she can do it. I can tell this from my own experience.

I contacted the Amazon guys for their print on demand self publishing facility and they allocated me a publishing agent (John Rizzo); what followed was a step by step discipline.

Of course I have yet to see my 'baby' on Amazon; but I am sure it will appear on it one day.

The publicity description they wrote was wonderful (I am sure I would not be able to write it in similar finesse).

Just have a look how easy the flow of language is of what they created:

For every CEO and president who has ever wondered what can be done about employee attrition and dissatisfaction comes a not-so-implausible corporate tale of creative brainstorming and one CEO’s determination to effect change.

Can employee happiness be found on the way to Corporate Social Responsibility? Utilizing a John Galt-like character, author Prabodh Sirur gives us PN, a CEO who realizes that employee satisfaction is not linked to bonus programs or company picnics but is created by providing environments in which employees’ talents, skills, and passions can be discovered and unfolded.

In the Wonderland of Talent Management-A Corporate Fairy Tale is an innovative, inspirational work that puts forth the premise that employee self-fulfillment need not be a fantasy. It can, Sirur believes, be the key that leads to an increase in employee retention, improved community relations; and for a company, an increasingly positive image and improved bottom line.

My first attemp in writing a book

Friends,
It was a great feeling writing a book; Only about 50 pages, it gave me such a great feeling.


After my maiden experience, I can tell all that everyone can write and enjoy and share his/ her enjoyment with friends.


I am giving below links to each section of the book. The idea is utopian but am sure if implemented well, it will have far reaching positive impact.

Section 1: Introduction to a new concept - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/11/pn-ceo-creating-atlantis.html Section 2: Encouraging high performers to teach - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/06/docendo-discimus.html Section 3: Giving employees whacky ideas to work on - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/11/bodhi-shopping.html Section 4: Employees start their own restaurant - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/11/diy-restaurant.html Section 5: Employee earn accolades for their organisation using their passion in painting - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/11/reproduction-material.html Section 6: Employess and their new type of garden - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-pluck-leaves-and-flowers.html Section 7: Employees teach Yoga to clients - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/12/valuefacture.html Section 8: Employees create a global tourist centre out of an obscure neglected place - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/12/221b-baker-street-vs-mastani.html Section 9: Working on a new kind of org structure - http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/12/vibgyor-ministry.html

Would love to have your view on:
1. Do you think the time has come to implement this in the corporate world?
2. What best implementation approach/ steps would you suggest for a successful implementation?
3. Do you have any stories to share which are in line with what I have proposed?
4. Which discussion groups do you think will take up this topic for further discussion?

Thanks. Will wait for your comments.

Click this link to start: http://tenmg.blogspot.com/2007/11/pn-ceo-creating-atlantis.html

Regards,
Prabodh Sirur

221B Baker Street vs. Mastani

April 28, 2010: PN was traveling to a place called Pabal to attend a unique event, the inauguration of a tourist center created by his employees.

What had been a small hamlet three years ago, was now going to be a great tourist destination, the place where Mastani, the goddess of beauty and romance, was buried on that same day 270 years ago.

Around three hundred employees had worked on the project for the past three years creating awareness, weaving stories around the romance of Mastani and Baji Rao and setting up a center for global tourists. Today, the world was going to see the fruits of their efforts.

PN took a trip down memory lane and recalled how it all started. It was September 12, 2006. PN was traveling to Pune. He had taken a day out from his schedule to visit a village called Pabal, where there was a technical school run by his schoolmate’s parents.

The school was called Vigyan Ashram; it was an educational institution for technologies suitable to village economy. To be eligible for admission, a student had to be a school dropout.

PN had also heard that the school had a partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and the Indian Institute of Technology for creating some technology breakthroughs for rural India. It was interesting, but far away from the city.

The school was on a small piece of land, yet holding a whole world of progressive technology. Young rural students in a remote drought-prone village managed it all. There were many success stories from supposedly unsuccessful students. PN thought it was just amazing!

After having lunch at the hostel mess, PN took a tour of the village. It was like any other village in India. But what caught PN’s eye was the grave of Mastani.

Mastani, PN was told, was a dancer and singer and mistress of Baji Rao, prime minister of the Maratha Kingdom. Mastani, the villagers said, was a skilled horse-rider, skilled in spear throwing and swordsmanship. She accompanied Baji Rao on his military campaigns, inspiring him to extend the Maratha Empire in North India.

She was a renowned beauty. The local folklore said that she had such fair and translucent skin that when she swallowed the juice of her paan beeda (betel leaf with nuts and spices), the red color of the juice could be seen through the fair skin of her throat. It was a great, romantic story of the eighteenth century.

Her death too was equally fascinating. When Baji Rao died and was being cremated, Mastani walked into the flames of the pyre and ended her life alongside her lover.

Today, the grave of the beauty lay in a solitary and deserted place, which PN could not believe. PN could not believe that so few people knew about this story. He returned to his office promising himself to do something about it.

In a meeting with his management team, he told them about the Pabal school and asked how employees interested in public service could spend some time there to help students in their pursuit of technology.

Ganesh showed interest in the project. He was an MIT alumnus, so he could get access to MIT’s work in Vigyan Ashram. He knew that many of his techno-savvy team members also wouldn’t mind spending time there and contributing.

Then PN spoke about reviving the Mastani tomb. There was a general disapproval of this. Team members thought no one would visit such a place, and they felt there were better places for which they should provide sponsorship and seek publicity. Mastani’s tomb was not worth the effort.

PN let the matter lie. Some time later, he had a chance to meet some of his UK employees, an enthusiastic group interested in tourism. They had recently completed a European tour and were inspired by the great tourist attractions they saw.

They were impressed by the skills of those countries that were creating tourist interests and the innovative ways they promoted tourism.

An example they gave was Sherlock Holmes’ home, at 221B Baker Street in London. A tourist could visit the house, wear Holmes’ bowler hat, smoke his famous pipe, have a photograph taken as a souvenir, buy replicas of Holmes’ possessions, even read the same newspaper Holmes read. The tourist department had done a great job in creating this make-believe world.

“If other young people can take it as seriously as you have,” PN said to the group, “we could do similar wonders.” Then he told them the story of his visit to the Mastani grave. He explained that if they could get together and plan things, it would be possible to create a tourist center in Pabal. They knew PN well. Everything looked so simple to him. They also knew that they could trust PN to support them when they got stuck.

They put out feelers around the company and sought the support of a large number of people who were ready to be part of the project.

They had much to do. Some started doing research on Mastani’s life. Others began working out what it takes to set up a tourist center, and others started working out the costs. Some went to stay in Pune and in Pabal. They spoke to the local government body, called the Panchayat, to the tourist department, and to the villagers to fill them with the enthusiasm to create a venture from which everyone would benefit.

Some enthusiasts planned to create videos to recreate the history; others planned for the sound and light programs. Some groups created a sustainability plan so that the center could go on functioning even after they had handed over control to the locals.

The work created lot of curiosity and interest in PN’s company.

The plans were ready. Volunteers started coaching the villagers, creating local guides, helping them set up the essentials of a tourist center, including hygienic water, a clean environment, good food, clean toilets, and so on.

In the small village, all this built hope and enthusiasm to do something good. The news of what was happening in Pabal soon spread. Support for PN’s volunteers came from many quarters.

And he came back to the present. PN’s car neared the new tourist site. A huge crowd attended the launch. PN opened the tourist counter and handed over the key to the village head. The dream he had sold to his team three years ago had actually become a reality.

It was one more victory for John Galt!

Valufacture

December 12, 2007: PN received mail from Gyan, one of his project managers. Gyan’s mail said, “PN, I am coming back from the project after two years in Delaware. I have something interesting to share.”

An excited Gyan met PN and spoke about his experience on the project.

“PN, when I went there, I wondered how on earth I would spend my time after office hours. But as it turned out, I did meet some very interesting client employees. We would talk all about India—the snake charmers, and the elephants, and so on. They had all the usual questions. Many had the perception that snakes roam around everywhere in India, and that the place is full of elephants.

“During one of these discussions, I told them about yoga and that I am a certified yoga teacher. They asked me whether I could teach them yoga, and I was happy to do it. They did not have any yoga teachers around, and this was an opportunity for me to serve them.

“They took me to their HR people, and I gave them a presentation on yoga and its benefits to physical and mental health, showing how it helps improve relationships and productivity, and so on. I also told them that it had nothing to do with any religion; it was just a spiritual journey for a sound mind.

“They were happy with what they heard and asked me if I could teach yoga to any interested employees. They asked me how much I wanted to be paid for my time teaching. I told them this was my gift to our esteemed clients. Anyway, there was great enthusiasm and participation in the yoga sessions.”

He showed PN the testimonials from the company and individuals.

“The best part was that the employees and the head of HR fought for my extension so that I could be around longer. This was the best experience of my life. Not only did I get more business for the company, but I also have the personal satisfaction of knowing that I can use my passion to help someone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if the clients give us more projects, only because what we gave them was over and above their expectations of the contract.”

PN thanked Gyan for sharing this with him. He arranged Gyan’s meeting with Shoma, the company’s PR person, and asked Gyan to repeat the story to Shoma so she could include it in the house magazine.

PN remembered Edward De Bono, the champion of lateral thinking, who spoke about “valufacture.” He felt that what Gyan had created was an extra value to the project. What he had done had not been a contractual obligation but an unexpected offering to clients.

PN shared the Gyan story with his team members. They were proud. But they felt that this story was a success because Gyan had managed it in a mature manner. To make this a proposition that could be repeated, they wanted something formal to be drawn up.

Someone said, “PN, as you are aware, many of our people would give their right arms to stay on-site if they had to. If we tell them that one way to achieve this is to teach our clients what they themselves are good at, we could risk landing ourselves in all sorts of trouble.”

There was consensus that there must be a proper mechanism to handle this. PN agreed and asked them to come up with some solutions.

Some time later, the team members met to discuss this. The conversation was dynamic and spirited.

“Do we know how many people know yoga in our organization? And how many are certified?”

“There are many branches of yoga; which one do you want to teach?”

“Guys, I think we should leave how to deal with the client to the individual project manager.”

“Why do you want to stick to yoga alone? There are many things our people can teach.”

“Like what? Riding elephants? Snake charming?”

“Oh, come on. You know Indian cooking is all the rage. They could teach them cooking.”

“Forget it. I’ve seen westerners cooking better Indian food than any one of us in this room. Everything is available on the Internet, and everyone sells ready-to-cook Indian meals.”

“We don’t have information on our people’s capabilities; we don’t know whether our offering is going to be of value to clients, and we don’t know what kind of legal hassles we could land ourselves in. On top of all that, we are saying that this is a free service. I have never seen a better business proposition!”

“Great, you know, you actually stated all the pain statements. If we work on each of them, we’ll find a solution.”

“Fantastic! I agree with you that valufacture does not mean we should give it for free. But when we want to exchange something for money, it should be contractual.”

“So the question is, how do we contract? Are we going to say in the contract, ‘along with the software, we will also provide 250 man hours of yoga to the client organization?’ That looks a little silly. I hope the clients don’t cancel the whole contract because of it.”

“I think, at this moment the best we can do is to get together the senior people, the project managers, and tell them about the Gyan story and leave it at that.”

“Better still, we’ll ask Gyan to tell the story. He’ll feel happy sharing his experience. People can ask questions and get answers from the horse’s mouth.”

When the team next met PN, they told him what they thought—that the organization was not yet ready to institutionalize the Gyan experience. PN respected the team’s view. Everyone agreed that after a formal recognition of Gyan’s contribution at a meeting of senior managers the chapter would remain closed.

It was a very good meeting, and the managers asked Gyan useful questions. The meeting ended with everyone going away with different thoughts about Gyan’s experience. Some of them repeated the story to their juniors; some of the juniors repeated the Gyan story to their juniors. But nothing happened on the matter of valufacture.

After some days, there was repeat business from the Delaware clients, who requested Gyan for the project. Gyan joined the project, and he knew many of his old friends were waiting for him and for their yoga meetings.
John Galt shrugged! He was patient. He was prepared to wait.

Pluck the leaves and flowers

June 2, 2009: PN was looking at a letter from his key client. It was a request for help to create an Indian herbal garden in their office.

PN recalled the client’s visit when their team was taken for a tour of the Indian herbal garden created by his employees. They were impressed by the concept and even more so by the signs around the garden: “Please pluck the flowers and leaves.” It was not the usual, “Do Not Touch” sign one always saw in parks.

The garden consisted of a large number of Indian herbs and medicinal plants. Under each plant there was information on its medicinal properties, the names of the diseases that could be cured, the “leafage” (dosage) for each disease, and so on. The “gardeners” encouraged people to pluck the leaves and eat them.

This garden was the work of enthusiastic employees from the world environment group. They were passionate about the medicinal plants. They had done extensive research on each of the plants and collected useful information for the visitors.

The client wanted a similar garden on their campus. The request was just unbelievable, especially because the client was from the Netherlands, a country famous for flowers and gardens. The renowned Michael van Gessel had done their existing thematic landscaping. PN only hoped it was not a joke!

He recalled how it had all started. The company’s world environment group had wanted something more to do. A few of its members were already working on some secret tissue culture project, but the remaining members were looking for a new project.

Someone from the group found out about the herbal garden in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the residence of the President of India and discovered that the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) had designed it. They wanted to build a similar garden enlisting NBRI’s help. They discussed the merits of the case among themselves.

The concept had a great unique selling proposition (USP) for their country. There was a growing awareness about Ayurveda (which is thought to have originated around 5000 B.C.). Many such herbal gardens were springing up all around the country. PN’s team wanted something that would distinguish their garden, something really unusual.

There was a brainstorm within the group. “Look, whichever park you go, you see signs forbidding people from touching leaves or flowers. Our garden will implore people to touch the flowers, beg them to pluck the leaves and eat them, because what they are eating is medicinal.”

People agreed that anyone who visited this garden would agree that it was certainly unusual to see such signs. “We should also have walking tracks around the plants so that people can eat these medicines as part of their morning walks.”

“How will they know what to eat and how much?”

“Well, needless to say, we’ll need to create small placards about each plant.”

The group could not wait any longer. They met PN and explained the idea. PN agreed to allocate a piece of the company campus garden to them.

The time went by swiftly for them. There were frustrations and moments of ecstasy. An acceptable landscape design was the subject of hot debate. Some wanted the landscaping on the basis of major ailments; some wanted the plants arranged according to the six Indian seasons; and still others wanted the plants to be based on the needs of people in different zodiac signs.

Other employees appreciated the garden. Many actually took morning walks just to read about the plants and which ailments they cured. The achievement was a hot topic. The India herbal landscaping was a success.

PN called a meeting to discuss the Dutch client’s request. But some members of the group were already in other projects, so only two members could join the Dutch project after a couple of weeks. The group was happy to take up the landscaping work as an additional responsibility, and those who were not in a position to travel pledged remote support.

PN was happy about this. But the group put forward a condition that the client’s employees had to be involved in the garden. They said, “When the garden is ready, they will have the satisfaction of creating something of value for their own colleagues. We know the kind of happiness we experienced when we created our garden. We want them to feel the same about their garden.”

The client agreed. They appreciated the viewpoint of PN’s people and the opportunity being given to their employees.

The two members joined the client project after a few weeks. In the meantime, they had studied which plants would survive in the Netherlands. Their landscape design was ready.

The client’s employees joined the gang. It was an enjoyable time for everyone involved. Soon a beautiful herbal landscape decorated the client’s building.

The client was happy and gave encouraging testimonials to PN’s people and to his company. The client used PN’s pet word, valufacture, in their testimonials. They found great value in what the two young members of PN’s company did for them, over and above the normal work of the project.

It was one of PN’s happiest moments. His employees loved being part of the revolution, and they were greatly excited about the stamp they were putting on the map of a foreign city.

The media splashed rave stories about PN and his organization’s contribution to society. They praised the employees’ pride and sense of satisfaction. Management experts praised the various ways the employees could be engaged for better employee satisfaction.

PN felt a deep satisfaction that he had been able to provide a platform for his people to express themselves and be happy. It was yet another victory for John Galt!

Did his people stop after this achievement? Not at all. Encouraged by what they had achieved in the Netherlands, many more joined the group of herbal landscapers. They approached their own city guardians and asked to convert some gardens into herbal landscapes. The local bodies agreed if someone would maintain the gardens for free.

The city had unusual gardens where children could pluck the leaves and flowers. The team taught farmers in the neighboring villages how to grow medicinal herbs and how to set up nurseries. Many other clients wanted to replicate the Netherlands’ experience. The list is endless.

A large number of employees of PN’s company now had a forum to embark on the kind of journey that would previously only have been a dream!