Prabhakar Karve's weblog

Organizational excellence – Importance of criticism

Last month, we explored importance of appreciation in the context of organizational excellence. Criticism is the other side of the coin, which I would like to explore today.

It is human nature to want appreciation and feel good when we receive it from others. It is also human nature to feel bad when somebody criticizes us and as a result we are reluctant to criticize others. But is that in our and others’ best interest? Criticism provides a very powerful feedback mechanism to let us know what we are missing. Only when we become aware of it can we do something to fill what is missing. By feeling bad about it and getting on the defensive, we miss a great opportunity to become a more complete person.

When making this change, it is always safer to start with taking criticism from others rather than start criticizing others. When we look at criticism as an opportunity to grow rather than something to be avoided, it completely changes our response to it. I have been trying to do the same and it really helps. The negative resistance gets replaced by a positive enthusiasm.

What is true for individuals is also true for teams, departments and the organizations. When service departments are criticized by the employees, we see resistance and defensive behavior. When teams are appreciated by the clients they feel happy and want to share it as an achievement with others. However, when we are criticized by the same clients, we are start finding excuses. The organizations seek regular satisfaction feedback from their customers and there is pressure to keep improving the index. But only a few really go out of the way to encourage an honest feedback and use it constructively for further improvements. We often hear the phrase “constructive criticism”, but I feel there is nothing like constructive or destructive from the giver’s point of view; it is how the receiver takes it. All we need is an honest feedback and it is for us to take it constructively or destructively.

Apart from the human feedback we receive, various systems we interact with keep giving us valuable feedback in terms of what did not go well. If only we take it as a honest criticism and use it constructively. All of us including me have a big gap between how we currently take criticism and how we could handle it differently as suggested above. It may make a huge difference to our performance and happiness if we practice this.

Would it therefore make sense to say that it is important for an organization to cultivate a culture of “honest feedback taken constructively”? I would appreciate any thoughts / experiences from you that either support or challenge what is said above.

Organizational excellence – Importance of appreciation

Last week I read an interesting news item in the local Indore paper. The traffic police stopped those who were following the recently introduced traffic rules like use of seat belts by car drivers and of helmet by the two wheelers. This was in direct contrast to the normal practice of going after the offenders and ignoring those who were disciplined. The first reaction from the later kind of people was of concern and worry. But they were pleasantly surprised, when they received a certification of appreciation, a red rose and a cold drink to quench their thirst.

In the past, the traffic police had tried their best to enforce the rules through issuance of challans but with little success. It was always a case of “hide & seek” as a result the rules never successfully implemented and the disciplined people lose their faith in the system. This novel idea brought smile to the face of the active supporters of the system and envy for others. Hopefully, both would be motivated in future to follow the rules rather than trying to find ways to sabotage.

Does it mean that the punitive measures should be completely eliminated? No. They have their place but only for the habitual, shameless and hardened minority. For the majority of the public, they would go either way easily. All it takes is slight change of approach and taking benefit of natural need for appreciation felt by all humans.

There is an interesting concept called “structured freedom” which says that best way to ensure responsible freedom is to provide just the right kind of structures. They should be pleasant & unobtrusive for those who work in the interest of the system and harsh on those who are either guided by their narrow interests or take cynical pleasure in subverting the system. This concept can act as a guide while formulating policies and procedures in an organization.

Appreciation is a strong motivator and when judiciously used with harsh measures for intentional abuse can be effectively used to channel the energy of the majority towards org interest. The appreciation does not have to be in the form of rewards in kind. A genuine & specific appreciation given as soon as the positive action is noticed goes a long way in reinforcing such actions. If done publicly, others are motivated to do the same. This creates a self-sustaining system. Since the occasional offenders are ignored, the bottlenecks & impediments created by them in resistance are avoided. Positive energy is encouraged which directly helps the organizational excellence.

I would appreciate any thoughts / experiences from you that either support or challenge what is said above.

Organizational excellence – Importance of Integrity

Recently I was particularly exasperated by a colleague who would promise a lot but actually won’t care to keep his promises. On top of it, he would be quite shameless about it and laugh it off. I have a friend who often would not do what he said he would do and then profusely apologize for it. In either case, it leaves me irritated & frustrated, but I do not want to let our relations be affected by of it. So as a safety measure, I started closely monitoring and reminding them but with partial success and lot of unnecessary work for me.

While thinking about it, I recalled the book “The Three Laws of Performance” by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan which I was reading recently had mentioned about integrity and its importance. I looked up relevant portions again and feel it worthwhile sharing it here.

As per the authors, “An enduring sense of satisfaction requires living with integrity – speaking consistently in all situations, keeping our word when possible, saying when we won’t be able to keep it and then dealing with the consequences – makes us whole, complete and powerful”

Though this is so important, why don’t we strive for integrity in practice? The book provides a possible reason, “We seek to be liked, or win approval, or avoid situations that occur to us as dominating, and so we speak in a way that will bring us acceptance or recognition or safety in that moment. In another moment, with another group, we speak differently and create a lack of consistency and ultimately of power. We don’t speak honestly, we hold back; we give our word and don’t keep it. The result is lack of integrity and loss power”; How true.

Further, “On the positive side, honoring our word is also creating whole and complete social and working relationships, and it provides an actionable pathway to earning the trust of others. It allows who we are to come forward and to become a presence in the world”.

I started thinking what I could do to deal with such people, without frustration or irritation, and try to bring greater certainty in their actions where I depend on them. I can think of two possible approaches and I want to try them out. One is to be very explicit with them in terms of my expectations and not fall myself in the trap of trying to get their acceptance / recognition or avoid getting into awkwardness in our relationships. Another is to look for people around us who display a higher level of integrity and take their help in creating peer pressure on those who don’t. I hope it works.

I would really appreciate any thoughts / experiences you may have about how you handle it.