Our Iceberg is Melting!!!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to read the book 'Our Iceberg is Melting" by John Kotter. The main crux of the book was on - How to suceed under constantly changing conditions. It was all about change management, which was narrated in the form of a fable based on a colony of penguins living on the icebergs of Antartica. It helped me to realize that changes are good and healthy signs of stable progression. A penguin named 'Fred' discovers that their iceberg is showing the signs of dis-integration. How he analyzes his findings,support his facts, takes this message to the other penguins,makes others understand the situation,communicates the new vision,forms a core group to guide the changes and succeeds in totally a different way of life forms the rest of the story. It was a great eye-opener for me.

8 important steps for managing the change :

1) Create a sense of urgency.
2) Pull together a guiding team.
3) Create a change vision and strategy.
4) Communicate to others and get the buy-in.
5) Empower others to act and make the new vision a reality.
6) Produce short-terms wins.
7) Don't let up
8) Create the new culture.

This can be applied to all spheres of life inorder to guide the change management smoothly. Personally, I felt that I got hold of the book at the right time,since I am seriously planning a couple of changes. I have decided to use this book as platform to guide my change management process.

After reading this book, I started the following self-introspection:

- Is my iceberg melting?
- Is my iceberg showing an indication that it could melt in the near future?
- Do I have my new vision?
- Should I take the help of others to conceritize my new vision?
- What changes should I make to envisage my new vision?
- What's my new strategy?
- Am I complacent?

Yes, It's time to come out of my comfort zone,rock the boat and enjoy the changes!!!

Happy B'Day JUJU : 24-10-2007

Arjuun turns 2 on 24-10-2007.

Thanks to God and my wife for giving me such a adorable son, who has added more colour to my life. Life has changed a lot after Arjuun's birth since interms of priority he tops my list. All my thinking,activities and changes are centered around Arjuun's happiness.

Happy Birthday Arjuun!!!

True Measure of Customer Satisfaction

Last sunday, I went to the Rain Forest Restaurant for dinner. It's a theme restaurant located at Adyar near my house. The entire set up of this restaurant is like an amazon forest with caves, water falls, animals like deer,python,lion,tiger,crocodile and ducks. It was a very good experience. This is my 6th visit to this restaurant and this time Arjuun really enjoyed the entire forest like set-up inside the cave. I also had a great time with him.

The restaurant crew consisted of group of people along with a Manager. This time I also noticed a new lady in the crew and she was constantly monitoring the way the entire crew was functioning. A number of times, I also saw the crew members collecting the feedback feedback from the customers and handing over the same to the lady. After some time, I went up to the lady and asked her if she is working in the restaurant? She informed me that she is responsible for Customer Satisfaction and her objective is to exceed the cutomer expectations. She also monitors the way the crew members work,serve,talk with customers, ask for the requirements. She informed that she provides a feedback about the performance of the entire team inorder to improve the overall performance of the sytem to enhance customer satisfaction.

I was able to related this directly to the Producer Gap : Minimize the gap between 'What the customer has requested' and 'What the customer actually got'.Hotel industry is one where we can get an immediate measure of product quality and customer satisfaction.