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Author: naren@hybreed.co

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“This is NOT fair”

– said my boss as the door slammed in his face, just moments after it was held wide open with a welcoming smile by the colourfully dressed, macho-moustached durbaan of a 5 Star hotel, for me, a minion!

“Well, you gotta be fair to the guy; like me” I said. However, I wasn’t smirking when I visited the Taj Mahal in Agra soon after. Indians- Rs. 25, Foreigners- Rs. 300… whaaaat, no mention of White Indians!? Jokes apart, I had to present more than a couple of government issued ID’s, “converse” (curse) in chaste Hindi before the person behind the ticket counter reluctantly sold me the ticket for Rs. 25 muttering under his breath –

“Yaha aakar Hindi seekh lete hai, aur…”

My wife found it very amusing –

“you gotta be fair to the guy, Strang; like you”

Strang….er things

The name’s Strangway Orridge aka Strang. However, I’ve also grown up with Strong, Strange, Stranger, Shaun, Stan, Stang and Strangy. I’ve never forgiven my father for naming me Strangway Orridge… I mean, who does that??? Just because his father’s friend happened to be an Irishman named Strangway O’leary?!

Seriously, dad? 

I was born in Dehradun off parents whose own parents were British Subjects of the Crown – serving in the Army and the Railways. I’m sure my parents also had an interesting childhood growing up but that story is for another day. This one is about the adventures of this White Indian.

Life for me began in Dehradun with the initial few years in Rishikesh. Most of my childhood was spent in Modinagar- then a small and booming industrial township about 50 kms north-east of Delhi. And then on to St. Stephens College in DU. The last two places are where all the adventures happened; at least the ones I remember!

Me growing up in Modinagar was akin to sticking out like a sore thumb all the time. In a small township like Modinagar, surrounded by villages where the main occupation was farming, a little white boy with fair hair and light eyes really stood out. It was intimidating to say the least. To be stared at and to be called all sorts of names from Gora, Bhoora, Angrez, firangi, chikna, and likes of it.

Initially, I didn’t understand most of the words but the way they were said was enough of an indication. As I grew older and my Hindi got better, I began to understand the full impact of my looks and the reactions it elicited. For years, I tried very hard to blend in, and the only way I thought I could, was to dress and behave like the people surrounding me. I remember so clearly that there were times I wished I was any color but white. Imagine a white boy swearing and cursing in chaste Hindi- more to build a protective shield and to blend in than to intimidate.

Being an athlete, I travelled a fair deal representing my school, District and the State of Uttar Pradesh in Basketball. Most times it worked. And the times it didn’t, fights broke out. As they say,

“sometimes you win and go home with just a shiner. Other times, you went to the doc to patch you up before you went home; till the next one.”

Important life lessons. As always, life carried on..

Growing Pains

I began to observe a very interesting pattern. People around me were naturally very curious but most also just jumped to conclusions and assumed me to be a “foreigner” and that dictated their behaviour, which in turn was also very interesting. Some just wanted to have fun at my expense. These include friends and colleagues who also found (still find) it amusing, completely ignorant how tired I am of hearing the same old shit and deeply detest it.

Some didn’t even realize they were being nasty. But then there were a few who wanted to know me better and became lifelong friends. It helped that I was also desperately looking to make friends who would stand by me. And they did! It made me feel grateful and relieved to have them around. In thick or thin, I could always count on them, and they on me. This taught me to value true friendship and fierce loyalty – another life lesson.

English Vinglish

When people approach me, they almost always choose to talk to me in English. Not their fault. It’s the way I look. But what’s even more interesting is that they continue to do so even after I respond in Hindi! I don’t think our brain registers a white guy speaking chaste Hindi. In CP, one of Delhi’s most popular hangout places, this one time someone approached me for dollars –

“Sir, Dollar Dollar. Exchange?”

My exasperated  “Nahi hai, bhai” fell on deaf ears as he continued chasing me…

“Sir, best rate, Sir”

And of course, there’s the classic – “Hello Sir, which country, hain?????” which always elicits the same old reaction –

“Yahi ka hoon, bhai… kisi aur pe try maar!”

A recent incident happened at a “star hotel” near Chennai. The lady at the reception asked for my passport as ID while I was checking in. I offered my election ID card and the look on her face was priceless! Even more when I showed her the voter’s ink on my finger. Without a word she goes, “purportedly” to get a copy made but takes her own time returning. This time with someone who looked like her senior, who very politely asked me for – you guessed it, my passport! I kept my cool, reasoned in Hindi and finally convinced them that I was – INDIAN!

All this while standing by and enjoying the show was my colleague- most of them are now used to these reactions. And like I’ve mentioned earlier, ignorant of the fact how deeply I detest it. These incidents, not surprisingly, aren’t limited to India only. Once when travelling by ferry from Singapore to Bintan (Indonesia) I got stopped at the Immigration Counter because the officer refused to believe I was an Indian! He kept insisting for me to show him my second passport and also spoke to me in what sounded like Spanish. I was gently interrogated by two officers for a good 15 minutes before they let me pass. Again, the colleagues I was travelling with watched with amusement and patiently enjoyed the show. In another case, here in India, I got told to

go back to my country if I didn’t like it here!

– this when I asked them to not park in the middle of the road and block traffic! Then there are some incidents are just too personal to narrate here.

What all these incidents did to me was elicit fear of any such encounters where I had to prove my nationality- no matter where in the world. And I am always over-prepared in anticipation. To this day I carry ALL my IDs on me at all times (Except for my passport, unless of course I’m travelling abroad). But just like the two sides of the same coin, there also have been pleasant experiences – Like getting preferred treatment at hotels (The cynic in me insists it is in anticipation of larger tips), easily starting conversations (I’ve realized my name is a conversation starter), westerners easily placing their trust in me – even when I’m bullshitting. (Aakhir, dil hai Hindustani!) I’ve also had fun when out shopping and the shopkeepers discuss prices to quote assuming I don’t understand Hindi.

“Rakhi ne ye angrez kahan se pakad liya, Radha?”

asked my wife’s aunt off her sister at a family do – blissfully unaware I understood every word and its nuance. I think my mother-in-law wished the earth would swallow her whole at that moment. But worse off was the aunt when she was told. Of course, I didn’t make it any easier for her and milked it for what it was worth, speaking to her in Hindi only.

Growing up white wasn’t easy (I’m still white, btw) but experience is a great teacher and I learnt fast. I’ve learnt to take advantage of a situation should one present itself. I’ve also learnt to accept reactions when I encounter them, and move on. But most importantly, I’ve learnt that assumptions can turn around and bite you in the ass!
No better lessons than those that life teaches you, here are a few that have stood the test of time –
The value of friendship and fierce loyalty; Relationships matter!
The value of not taking yourself too seriously; One life… learn to laugh, or as kids like to say – YOLO!
The value of having a sense of humour; Helps de-escalate any situation.
Know a little more; assume a little less.
We are all unique. Accept it. Be Genuine.

“Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” – Anonymous

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I read this wonderful book last month after a friend gifted it to me. And it goes without saying that it was one of the best gifts I have received. The little things I learnt from the Japanese secret is helping me become a happier person with each passing day. Ikigai finds its origins in the Japanese island of Okinawa, home to the largest population of centenarians in the world. The philosophy is based on discovering your passion and living a life driven by purpose.

Continue reading “Book Review : Ikigai by Francesc Miller & Hector Garcia”

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There is no arguing that most people want to improve and aspire to become a better version of themselves. However, to improve something, it is critical to know the baseline. Where you stand? How well you know yourself? How do you know if you are right about yourself? Do others see you in same light?

Continue reading “Why Feedback Matters?”

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Motivation is one of the most abused words in the English language. With all the unnecessary hype surrounding it, especially on social media, it seems to have lost its credibility. Everyone seems to be in search of that little something that gets their adrenaline going and gets them to #smashyouroals.

Continue reading “4 Popular Myths About Motivation”

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Program

SMOLLAN | Blended Learning Journey using Microlearning

Objective

The objective was to develop the competencies of two teams of SMOLLAN :
⦁ GDC (Global Delivery Center)
⦁ Head Office Team which included

The targeted competencies were identified as follows :

⦁ Strategy and People Development
⦁ Team Alignment
⦁ Accountability
⦁ Empathy
⦁ Stake Holder Management

⦁ Operational Excellence
⦁ Planning & Organizing
⦁ Continuous Process Improvement
⦁ Agility
⦁ Problem Solving

⦁ Leadership Excellence
⦁ Fostering Creativity
⦁ Adapting to Change

Solution

Competency development is a long-term process and a one-time intervention is unlikely to make a lasting impact. Keeping this is mind, a blended learning journey was designed for SMOLLAN with the following elements:

⦁ Self – Report Questionnaire
⦁ 2 – Day Experiential Workshop
⦁ 90 – Day reinforcement through mobile microlearning

Below is the snapshot of the Learning Journey:

Details of each element of the learning journey:

Self – Report Questionnaire:
In discussion with the SMOLLAN Learning & Development team, we identified the targeted behaviors for each competency. We also had a round of discussion with the leadership team to identify the critical incidences where these competencies come into play and the challenges faced by the team in demonstrating the expected behaviors.

Through a survey, participants self – reported their level of confidence of working with each behavior. We leveraged the insights from the survey and leadership discussion to customize the experiential workshop and mobile based microlearning challenges.

2 – Day Experiential Workshop:
Through the use of experiential activities such as Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, Blind In – Tent, First Strike and the Domino Rally challenge, the key learning objectives were brought to surface.

90 – Day reinforcement through mobile microlearning:
Through challenging mobile based microlearning modules, participants were encouraged to apply the concepts and behaviors to real life work scenarios. These 10 to 15-minute modules were made available through an app so that participants could complete them on the go, anytime, anywhere. Through regular dashboards and emails, learners were encouraged to continue the learning process.

Below is the list of the 10 mobile learning challenges designed :
⦁ An App with odd features: Aligning the team
⦁ The Accountability Challenge: Applying the various steps of the OZ Principle
⦁ Draw an Empathy Map Challenge: Stakeholder Management
⦁ Use Influencing Currencies Challenge: Stakeholder Management
⦁ The Mousetrap Challenge: Reframing the problem
⦁ The Explorer’s Challenge: Sourcing ideas creatively
⦁ The Green Bullet Challenge: Micro – experimentation with an idea
⦁ Move with Your Cheese Challenge: Anticipating and managing change
⦁ The 8 – Step Change Challenge: Leading change using Kotter’s model
⦁ The Agile Sprint Challenge: Designing projects to be more agile

Some important microlearning metrics :

Pics :

Impact

This is what Mr. Vijay Varshney, Head of Technology, MESA – SMOLLAN Had to say about the blended learning journey :
“Thank you FocusU team and Smollan L&D team for designing such a wonderfully continuous learning program, it acted like small and effective doses to look for what next…and what more coming once way to improve. Case studies chosen were all relevant for my Global Development Team & I could not ask for more. Let’s plan for some monthly 1 hour on premise confluence sessions. Thanks once again.”

This is what Ketki Desai, one of the participants of the learning journey, had to say about the use of microlearning in the journey :
“It forced me to learn and grow in spite of dealing with my busy schedule of juggling between work and a new-born back at home… you not only helped me understand new concept in merely 15 mins span to 30 mins., but also challenged me to think through different issues I feel, I should deal with. I should get them sorted mentally in my mind first than in real life… Thank you for helping me GROW my knowledge…”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Program

HUL Market Immersion And Team Engagement Workshop

Objective

To engage 120 professionals from the Homecare division of HUL in an activity that serves the purpose of both team building and spreading brand awareness.

Solution

The opportunity was brought to us by one of our favourite event partners – Shobiz, who were working closely with HUL on this engagement. The brief they came to us was as stated above.

While exploring various options along with Shobiz, we figured that in our discussions about the home care products and how they get used, the word ‘housewife’ cropped up several times. This led to a question – How can we make a difference for the housewives belonging to lower-middle-class families? And from there was born “The Home Make-over Challenge”.

The broad idea was this: To identify houses in the city from the lower middle class strata and challenge the team, broken into smaller units to give them a make-over using mostly (but not restricted to) HUL Homecare products.

The roll-out involved different steps:
⦁ Step 1: Ideation
How do we deliver to the client brief and yet bring something more to it? Some fizz as like to call it. In this case, it came from the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) angle of the whole engagement.

⦁ Step 2: Planning & Preparation
Ideas are dime a dozen. At the end of the day, it comes down to the rigour in planning and preparation. We set out on the streets of Jaipur, where the HUL team offsite was scheduled to do a recce of possible households who would be amenable to an engagement like this. It was a revelation of sorts. The trust levels in our society is so low because of people always trying to pull a fast one, that we had to contact 3 times as many houses to shortlist and identify 10 houses, which the teams would work on.

⦁ Step 3: Getting our co-conspirators on board
At home, the wife is generally the boss. To be able to pull off something so audacious, we had to first get the husbands to secretly collaborate with us. Brave husbands are few and far between. And yet we did finally manage to find this intrepid species. Their role as co-conspirators was to find plausible reasons for sending their wives out during the make-over of their homes. From visits to beauty parlors, shopping, to complimentary coupons – which were arranged by the HUL team.

⦁ Step 4: Actual Execution
Vision without action is fantasy. So it came down to the D-Day execution. On the day of the workshop – the session started with some interesting energizers to get the ball rolling. Once the team was sufficiently energized we randomly split them into 10 groups and handed them their challenge for the next 4 hours. Jaws dropped in awe and anticipation. But the excitement was palpable. We knew that this would be one of our most joyful experiences so far.

All the teams had pre-designated houses and were shown pre-captured video of the house that further helped them broadly plan all that they needed to procure for the makeover.

Each team was handed a virtual budget, which they used to buy the material from the shops we had set up with all the household material that was pre-purchased. This included curtains, flower vase, lamps, bed sheets, cushion covers, plants, cleaning mop, Vim, Rin, Domex, etc.

After the procurement, teams headed out with a mission to transform someone’s house. The next 3 hours saw the teams getting their hands dirty in the execution of this holistic activity and giving their best. The time pressure was real here because the woman of the house can be kept away from her kingdom, but only for a limited period of time. Work happened at a frantic pace, with everyone working as a team.

Finally, came the moment of truth. The housewives knocked on the doors and the sheer look of surprise, delight, and wonder on the faces of the women when they entered the house made this challenge worth all the effort. All this was of course recorded discreetly by our team with handycams.

Impact

Here is what Mayur Thakkar, the Account Director, Shobiz Experiential Communications had to say after this workshop:

As the name says F-Fantastic, O-Outstanding, C-Confident, U-Useful, S-Safety – I have been working with this Team from the past 4 years and trust me they have surpassed the Quality & the way Team Building Activities that are conducted. They get into the minutest details at all times, they plan well in advance and manage the entire event with so ease, they you really don’t have to ask anything what’s going to happen next. An amazing Team with brilliant concept and assured outcomes.

Download this Case Study

 

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Program

TAPMI Train The Evaluators Program |Behavioral Assessment During Admission Process

Objective

The T.A. Pai Management Institute, fondly known as TAPMI is located in the city of Manipal in Karnataka. With academic rigour and experiential learning at its core, TAPMI’s Post Graduate Diploma in Management Programs are approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) since its constitution.

Established in 1980, it is one among the 7 institutes in India and 5% of the top business schools worldwide to have been accredited with the illustrious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation, the oldest and toughest accreditation in the world of business education. It is also the 5th institution in India to have both the AACSB as well as Association of MBAs (AMBA) accreditation.

It is hence one of the much sought out institutes for students not just across India, but also across the world. The annual admission process for the institute starts in February. The need articulated to us was to evaluate around 3000 students in the month, in batches of 70 per day. Being big believers in Experiential learning themselves, TAPMI reached out to us to help them devise a way by which behavior assessment of the students could be done in a fairly rapid manner. They three key behaviours they were looking for included:

⦁ Being a Team player
⦁ Taking up Ownership
⦁ Communicating Effectively

One of the core tenets of Experiential learning is that “The way people play is the way people work.” This makes evaluating students through experiential activities a good lens for a quick assessment.

The task for us was to design and train TAPMI evaluators on two activities that bring out these behaviors clearly, so that the evaluators could in turn, conduct those activities for the students participating in the admission process.

Solution

We got to the drawing board and started ideating on, what is the best way to achieve this objective? While exploring various options, we had to keep in mind that the activities should bring out the objectives effectively yet should be comprehensive enough for the evaluators to understand. Also we were acutely aware that it should be fair to all the students who go through the process – and should not lend itself to ambiguity.

The other key challenge was that the activities needed to be of a short duration of maximum 10 minutes so that the whole process could be done rapidly, leaving time for the evaluators to also run their other evaluations.

Two activities were curated for this purpose that met all these criteria. One was called “The Tower of Brahma” and the other was the famous “Marshmallow Challenge.” There were around 8 evaluators who needed to be trained on the activities.

The program was conceived in 4 steps:

⦁ Step1: Understanding of the Experiential learning cycle
This was important since TAPMI themselves use the Experiential methodology. It was important that we were on the same page before we got into the activity itself.

⦁ Step 2: Experiential learning
The 8 evaluators were put through the both the activities, followed by an in-depth debrief. This was followed by a rigorous discussion between our Facilitators and the TAPMI faculty (the evaluators) where we dived deep into all the nuances of the activity and the possible different behaviors it can throw up, with the implications of each. To help prepare them for doing a dry run by themselves as the next step, FocusU also helped the evaluators with a detailed activity script. We also co-created an assessment form that they could use while running the activity. The assessment form detailed out the positive and the negative behaviors that the evaluators needed to watch out for.

⦁ Step 3: Learning by doing
Once the evaluators had no more questions, it was time for them to run these two activities themselves. For this, we called students volunteers. Multiple runs were done, followed by debriefs and discussions, so that the essence of the activity was preserved. This hands-on dummy run was a critical piece of the whole experience in ensuring that during the actual run, it was done extremely professionally by the evaluators

⦁ Step 4: Actual usage in the admission process
On Day 2, the FocusU team was there to overlook the evaluators conduct the activities by themselves. This time actual students applying to the MBA program in TAPMI were the participants. Truth be told, we had to do very little hand-holding or intervention at this stage. No wonder that TAPMI has such a good reputation!

Impact

The TAPMI evaluators went on to do the same activities at different locations in India for their admission and evaluation process. Since they had done the activities under the supervision of FocusU team, they were fully aware of the process and how to identify the behaviors during the activity.

This is what Jeevan J Arakal, one of the Professors had to say about the whole collaboration:
TAPMI deeply values teamwork among program participants, this is reflected in our team-based activity evaluation during the admissions process. In line with this focus we run team building and outbound activities as part of the induction process. These activities focus on collaboration, team building and informal bonding, creating a culture of trust among program participants. Program participants are encouraged to go outside their comfort zone, by actively participating in a combination of indoor and outdoor activities.

As mentioned earlier, we wanted the following outcomes as part of the induction process:
⦁ Teamwork
⦁ Collaboration
⦁ Informal bonding

In consultation with FocusU we devised several activities focused on the following aspects.
⦁ The importance of planning in a team, leadership and clear communication with feedback
⦁ The importance of prioritization in the work that we do
⦁ The contribution that different people in a team bring into a team task
⦁ The impact that each member in a team makes to the overall team
⦁ Success & trust have a domino effect in organizations: success breeds success! And trust given begets trust
⦁ The role of teamwork – and importance of leveraging every single person in a team

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

“What inspired you to leave your job and start on this journey?”  

is what a kid asked me following a talk I gave on “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” at IIT Kanpur, one of the kids caught up with me in the corridor. I believe where words fall short, poems come to the rescue!

I wish I could have shared with him this poem that I wrote 9 years back, to give him a glimpse of the mindset that inspired my life altering shift to experiential learning from the good ol’ corporate life.

Two plus two makes four my boy,
“Walk along the straight line”.
Don’t dare turn left, when we say right,
Fall in line, obey, comply.

March on, look right ahead,
Stomp your foot – straight in line.
Up goes the hand, that chin up too,
Not a thought from you – Robot man.

This is your world – one size for all,
Everyone a bottle of coke.
Same size, same shape, standardize,
Same thoughts, no voice – you realize?

ok, here’s the dare:
First fall out of line,
Walk zig-zag – hop skip and then jump.
Now take that lane, yes that offbeat one,
Go on – walk on – explore.

Out at the other end now,
What did you see?
What did you learn?
What did you uncover?

It’s not the “what” that’s important,
But the fact that you “did”,
Just listen to your own drummer my friend,
For the music always tops the coke!!

The risk, most of us are told, is in doing things that are unconventional. But, every time I sit and look back at the 9 years past, and I know that is, in fact, flawed thinking. The actual risk is

In following the tried and tested path,
In not living life on the edge,
In playing safe;
In knowing with a fair degree of certainty how the next month and the year after will turn out to be,
In knowing all the answers,
In not ever having butterflies in your tummy!

My two cents to it all is that –

“Don’t ever take such risks in your life. After all, you just have one!”