The Second Commander – COO August 15, 2006
Posted by Saravanan in Business, Leadership.add a comment
Many times I used to think what is the exact role of Chief Operation Officer (COO) in many organizations. The first impression of the job title might suggest that their role is to run the business on daily basis. Nathen Bennet & Stephen A Miles in their article in “Indian Management” (July 2006 issue) lists 7 kinds of COO and the roles they play.
The excerpts
1. The executor - Responsible for executing the strategies developed by the top management. Responsible for delivering results on a day to day basis
2. The Change Agent – To lead a specific strategic initiative or a major organisational change.
3. The Mentor – To mentor a young inexperianced CEO. As the CEO develops, this COO role might either disappear or be heavily restructured.
4. The Other Half – To compliment the CEO’s experiance, style, knowledge base
5. The Partner – If CEO is a kind of person who works best with a partner.
6. The Heir apparent - To groom the company’s CEO Elect
7. The MVP – As a promotion to an executive considered too valuable to lose
My Airtel Broadband Experience August 6, 2006
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It had a been a week since I got my Airtel Broadband at home. I am very happy with the service and this post is about my experience.
When I wanted to go for broadband, my friends suggested Airtel and told me about their customer service. I decided to go for it and visited their Koramangala office enquiring about their plans and tariff’s. It was on a Saturday and on Monday, their field in charge contacted me after the feasibility analysis. I filled in the form and immediately, the sales guy called their office and my details were entered in their system. On Tuesday, the cabling and telephone installation were completed. On Wednesday, modem and broadband configuration was completed and voila… I was connected to internet through broadband in 3 days. But for the broadband, BSNL informed that they need 15 days to provide a telephone connection and another 15days for the broadband connection. The same thing, Airtel provided in 3 days.
Airtel gave me another surprise when their customer service agent called me back to provide the update on my request. For the first time, I got a call from a customer service agent to provide the update on the customer’s request.
No wonder Airtel rules the telecom market in India.
Mission Statement and Employees August 2, 2006
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This is in continuous to the earlier post of Mission Statement and India Inc. Earlier it was the quality statements mattered most than the mission statement and taglines. Whether the mission and quality statements really matter for the employee? Whether the mission statement is broken down to every level and clearly communicated to every employee about his role in the mission.
HBW published a article where impact of mission statement on the employee motivation is discussed as part of a larger article on “Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation“. They state “Stating a mission is a powerful tool. But equally important is the manager’s ability to explain and communicate to subordinates the reason behind the mission. Can the manager of stockroom workers do better than telling her staff that their mission is to keep the room stocked? Can she communicate the importance of the job, the people who are relying on the stockroom being properly maintained, both inside and outside the company? The importance for even goods that might be considered prosaic to be where they need to be when they need to be there? That manager will go a long way toward providing a sense of purpose.“
I wonder how many companies write their statements based on what they want to achive. I had seen many companies writing the statements with word play to look great within the golden frames in their office front office. Whether they will be able to make an impact on the people?
Mission Statement and India Inc August 1, 2006
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“The Hindu Business Line” published an excellent article on mission statements and corporate branding where they trace the branding strategy of Infosys along with other indian companies. Infosys even changed their PR consultancy when they shifted their branding strategy from CEO brand to corporate/employee brand. The article list few of the Vision Brands that have managed to zero in on one word to explain their mission. HP: invent. Microsoft: Potential. HCL: Guts. Honda: Dreams. Philips: Simplicity. LG: Inventive.
What is the impact of corporate brand on the employees. Quote from the artice: It helps if batchmates, former colleagues and competitors comment on it in airports. It helps with the in laws and the wife’s friends at the PTA. It helps if your company’s ad comes when you are watching the World Cup Final with your teenage nephew. The litmus test is: if the cab driver knows your office building! But most of all, it must help get the CEO invited to The Big Fight!
I love my company builds the brand in India. Everytime when somebody asks where do I work, I have to tell the company name followed by the nature of business. And do you know the next question they ask me… “Are you not working for Infosys or Wipro“ Its the success of their brand building.
