Friday, November 21, 2014

KICK - Part II

I got many responses on the new KICK that my readers have started to give to their supervisor, organization, spouse and to themselves.  Many of them also watched the movie KICK after my last blog and started seeing Salman Khan in a new light (beyond item number).  If you have not watched the movie yet please do so and notice the last dialogue of the movie where he says “Mein Dil mein aata hoon, Samajh mein nahin” which means you can understand me with your heart and not with your intellect.  If I draw a parallel to this “Dil” is the emotional bond that we have with people around us and “Samajh” is the systems, policies, processes. 

You must have seen managers with whom people not only like working but they enjoy and then there are managers with whom people just work because their job / role demands.  In the first case there is a combination of “Dil (Heart)” and “Samajh (Processes)” whereas in the second case it is only “Samajh (Processes)”.  While it is absolutely critical to respect “Samajh (Processes)” but most people get embroiled into that so much that they loose the “Dil (Heart)” connection.  This happens on the personal front also.  I have seen some of my childhood friends when they were getting married they use to be on the phone with their fiancĂ©e for hours together “Dil (Heart)” connection) and now after a decade into their marriage they only call them once they reach their destination while travelling or if they are getting late when stuck in traffic as per “Samajh (Process)”.  The “Dil (Heart)” connection got lost somewhere in the process of upbringing of kids, taking care of ageing parents, worrying about the EMI and so on. 

On the professional front reflect on why the customer with whom you have been working for last five is not giving you more business or demanding a steep discount on renewal of contract even when all the SLAs have met.  The reason is that somewhere we lost the “Dil (Heart)” connection with him.  The monthly or quarterly reviews are done only with “Samajh (Processes)” and not with “Dil (Heart)”. One of my friend recently shared a very nice “Dil (Heart)” story with his customer where he said that his customer came from a country where most of the year it is gloomy and they don’t get enough sunlight.  It was the month of March in Delhi and it was a bright sunny day.  So on the day of review as per “Samajh (Process)” the meeting was scheduled in one of the conference rooms but his “Dil (Heart)” said we should do the review in sunlight as that is what the customer misses in his own country. They setup the tables in the open area where the customer enjoyed the sun (his “Dil”) while doing the review as per process.

If you speak to any of the music composers they say that they immerse into the character for whom they are going to compose the song with their “Dil (Heart)” so much that there is a time when the music just emerges and then it is just a matter of composing “Samajh (Process)”.  I think if we can do this “Dil (Heart)” connection with our customers where we deeply think about their problems and challenges, many deep insightful solutions will emerge.  If we do this connection with our spouse and children a united family will emerge.  If we do this with our supervisor a partnership of supporting each other with their strengths will emerge and finally if we do this with our organization and the country a new world will emerge.

This blog is a reminder to bring that “Dil (Heart)” back in everything we do both on personal and professional front.  Call your spouse even when you have not reached your destination or even when there is no traffic jam and halt yourself together with the times you had halted once.  Hope I was able to make a “Dil (Heart)” connection with you and this blog inspires you to make those connections with your customer, supervisor, spouse and the organization.  Share with me the “Dil-Heart” connections that you make till I meet you again with my next blog.