CRACKING THE CONUNDRUM

EMPLOYEES OFTEN FACE A DILEMMA BETWEEN FOCUSSING ON THE CUSTOMER OR FOCUSSING THE BOSS

Shiva, the ascetic god, sits in Kailas located high up in the snow capped Himalayan range as well as in Kashi located down in the plains, on the banks of the river Ganges. Atop Kailas, Shiva sits in serene meditation as the teacher, Adi Nath. Down below in Kashi, Shiva is Vishwanath, lord of the world, involved in activities of life and death, along with his consort Annapoorna, the goddess of food. In Kailas everything is still and silent and serene. But in Kashi kitchen fires burn along side crematoriums; there is the chaos of worldly life. The devotee is not sure if he should direct his devotion downstream towards Kashi where life is lived or upstream towards Kailas where liberation is granted. Which Shiva matters more?

There is Kailas and Kashi in the corporate world too - the boss sits in Kailas while the customers, in Kashi. Who should one focus on? The boss upstream or the customers downstream. Downstream is where performance happens and value is created, but upstream is where appraisal is done, and promotions granted.

People often say that if there is performance, and then rewards are bound to come. But anyone who has been through the appraisal process knows that there is a huge a gap between what happens is Kashi and what is perceived in Kailas. We may think we have performed brilliantly but when we receive the letter, we are quite disappointed with the contents: either the raise is too frugal, or the promotion is adequate enough.
Every employee works for his salary. The boss seated in Kailas has a direct impact on the payslip. The customer who is in Kashi has an indirect impact on the payslip. When events in Kashi have no direct correlation on the decisions taken at Kailas, attention shifts from customer satisfaction to boss management.

Santosh, the restaurant head in a luxury hotel, was furious. The general manager had given a promotion to Vipin, the front desk head. It was Santosh who worked day and night to ensure the guests were happy. It was Santosh who got the great customer ratings for the hotel. It was Santosh who ensured his team walked the extra mile to manage the tantrums of the many celebrities who came to the restaurant. In his view, Vipin did not do much of a job at the front desk where there were always issues with billing during rush hour, and irritated clients who arrived by the late night flight. Rather than focus on his team and his customers, Vipin seemed to focus more on buttering the boss. Santosh refused to be a yes-man or sidekick to the general manager. He felt the general manager should measure him on the basis of his performance and not on the basis of interpersonal relationship. So when he learnt that Vipin had got a better rating than him at the appraisal he felt betrayed. He lost interest in work. He felt it was time to quit and move on. Kailas, he felt, had ignored the reality of Kashi.

This is the irony of the corporate world. Despite all efforts to create an objective foolproof appraisal system, it relies heavily on the subjectivity of those upstream while the real value is generated with customers way downstream. Events in Kashi happen every day but the pilgrimage upstream to Kailas happens barely once or twice a year during appraisal time. Ideally Kashi and Kailas should be one - customer satisfaction must determine employee appraisal. But this does not happen. So the employee wonders who is God actually - customer or boss?

[ The author is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group who can be
reached at devdutt@devdutt.com]