The task of an owner of any 'robust' business is to simply count money at the end of each working day.
This is because the resource that primarily fuels such businesses is 'money'.
Therefore, the health of such businesses is measured by 'grades' or 'rankings within peer group' and hard financial numbers and quarterly profits.
However the owners of 'resilient' business and entrepreneurs count on a different resource.
Their primary resource is humans.
When the resource is 'human' the currency involved is made up of a basket of stories, narratives, ideas, dialogs, engagements.
Therefore, they count human 'participation' and 'contributions' and at times they count the money gained from such human 'contributions' for a more equitable distribution.
The health of such enterprises is measured by 'comments' users make about their experiences with owners of resilient businesses and entrepreneurial firms.
This is a story of social innovation that became a part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Tega Industries, Kolkata, India.
Workers' Training is the theme of the story, which started out as an experiment, maturing into a full grown CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activity.
What prompted the Experiment?
For years we have been led to believe that workers are to be trained in the work they do in the factories. The concept is based on the inaccurate understanding that both work and workers are something similar to machines since a factory tends to work like a machine day in and out. Therefore, their work can be reduced to some simple steps and techniques that are teachable through standardized methods.
Therefore, the courses and training so far imparted to workers have been very dry, technical and often boring in nature, for instance, how to operate a lathe or a press or how to weld and cut etc.
No doubt it is important for a worker to learn the basic tricks of the trade. But somehow on the way we forgot that a worker belongs to the human kind and is not a robot designed to perform boring and repetitive work hours on end. The worker like most humans would want to know the why, what and how of most things and thereby derived the necessary self esteem to live, respect others and understand the interdependent connections they have with others. We also forgot that with the growth of technology and innovation humans have become appendages to the machines they work with. That is the design of the machines slowly and surely over time evolved to be free of human interferences operating with some sort of machine 'intelligence'. Examples abound. Humble lathes have transformed into CNC machines. Welding is no longer dependent on human skills of weaving, moving and lifting but on fine controls of welding pugs and automated machines, and so on...
What does that mean?
It means that the tedium of repetitive work has now been taken over by machines liberating the human spirit in search of something beyond themselves. They can now create value through various interactions and dialogs created in the context, employ technology in more skillful ways and understand the why, what and how of things to improve further.
It also means that never before in the past 200 years of our industrial age society, workers got opportunities to raise their real self esteem, respect the skill and contributions of others and realize that they and their work are all interdependent part of something much bigger than what they can individually produce.
Issues considered in design of Social Innovation
There were four more issues that informed our design of the new approach to educating workers in the context of of present reality. These were:
a) People learn best from each other and through their own work than they ever learn through teachers. In this process only skillful 'facilitation' helps. For example, in the initial years of computer literacy in India, people learned from each other not from established institutions and officially designated teachers. This is the single most important factor that helped fuel the computer revolution in India till the "burden" of making people literate has now been hijacked by mushrooming technical colleges imparting computer education.
b) At no point of time in the last 20 years has foreign investment – direct and portfolio – exceeded 10 percent of our domestic investment. Our growth is due to our domestic savings which is again predominately household savings. Our housewives require awards for our growth not any western fund manager. It means that if the earning capacity of the workers can be increased in real terms then a company actually contributes to the national growth in ways apparently unseen. To my mind this is the real cost benefit of conducting a CSR activity where for a very small cost both the company and the nation benefit multi-fold.
c) In India, families are organized while governments disorganized. Organized family has been the mainstay of Indian civilization, culture and national wealth. So, can our course be designed to strengthen familial bonds to strengthen the economic base of the nation.
d) As a civilization, Indian culture places a lot of importance on 'learning' to the point of reverence and considered as a prime component of life and living.
With these in mind we set about designing an appropriate course for the workers with an eye to life long learning supported by the company.
The Practical Solution
The structure as it evolved centered around 4 main subjects, which were the following:
a) The practical applications of Science and Maths with an aim for self discovery by the participants in their daily work.
b) The practical application and use of English language with the objective of enhancing self esteem and understanding issues involved in their environment much of which were built on the use of English.
c) Skill enhancement to not only apply computer applications in a practical manner in their field of work but also to assist their supervisors in computer related work.
d) Personality and attitude improvement through understanding and discovering the self and eliminating weakness in personality and attitude through self rewiring of the brain. For this the method of 'graphology' was introduced and applied.
Anyone willing to undergo the course was registered for the course. The company provided the necessary space and resources. However, each worker invested two hours of their own time for five days a week to undergo the program. The program has three levels of difficulty to master where a year for mastering each level was given to the workers.
Four skilled facilitators leading 'authentic' lives took up the challenge to engage in movement.
Results
This pilot course is now two years old and the results have been more than astounding. Some of which are the following:
a) The workers self organized themselves to install a new machine in three days time before the engineers of the manufacturer could arrive at site for installation. When the service engineers arrived on the scene they were taken aback by the accuracy of the installation, which would have normally taken them five days to achieve.
b) All the workers showed marked improvement in their performance and quality as evidenced in structured surveys conducted by the company to monitor the progress and effectiveness of the training.
c) Many were found to operate computer applications to keep track of their own work and assist their supervisors in creating and maintaining production records.
d) Many found themselves in the permanent role of the company thus enhancing their pay and benefits that largely contributed to enhanced savings for their families. For some workers the average household 'savings' have doubled in two years time.
e) Large number of small innovations were done by these workers in a self organizing manner.
f) Many reported improved marital and family relationships that enhanced their internal motivation at work and living. There were many specific cases where participants were able to come out of emotional confusion, depressions, emotional distress and stress, migranes, effects of traumatic childhood expriences and personal limitations thereby leading more happier and productive lives.
g) Over 60% of the participants reported increase in household savings in real terms as compared to previous years without any real increase in wages compounded to an average inflationary rate of around 10%.
h) And 100% wanted to continue the education for more years and even thought of converting it into a personal life long effort.
The moral:
Traditional workers’ training is 'physical' in its form and function. This new program addresses the issues of learning and improvement of work, life and living from the 'mental' and the 'spiritual' planes of human existence. If the results are any indicators, the way it has unfolded; the approach of addressing human issues and problems from the human spirit holds promises to redesign for the better many of our human activities in the future.
Surja Maity was from the family of tailors. He learnt sewing from his father. They owned a ramshackle shop. Their business grew only during the months of festivities where people came to sew their new clothes. Whatever they earned was spent in buying essential things of life. Surja grew restless. He was determined to lead a comfortable life.
Surja was approached by a person dealing with hosiery goods. He put up a business plan to Surja. Surja was supposed to buy a special sewing machine which sews hosiery clothing like vests, undergarments and Tees. All bulk orders from different hosiery manufacturers would be placed to Surja.
Surja was worried. The special sewing machine costs around Rs. 90,000/- and also he needs special experienced craftsmen. He approached the local money lender who refused to help him. He approached many a banks who demanded huge collateral security which he unfortunately did not have. His friends, relatives all shooed him away. Surja thought his dream will always remain a dream. Lastly he approached his local councilor who arranged an interest free loan of Rs 50,000/- from a government scheme. For rest of the money Surja pawned his ramshackle shop.
He bought the sewing machine. Everyone in his family was eager to start their new journey from poverty to posterity. Order came in trickles. Surja’s wife garnered all the support. She taught the other women folk who were else busy quarreling among themselves in front of the road side tap the art of sewing hosiery products. Slowly Surja’s family bought two more sewing machines. Many reputed hosiery brands placed orders to him.
Eight years have passed by. Surja has built a new house. The locality women folk flaunt their newly found economic status. Surja has employed about fifty women who earn around three thousand rupees a month. Surja is happy. He has given something back to the community.
Most earn their living by doing often boring and repetitive tasks and activities which others might be able to do just as well. They thrive on performance against time. It is risky since when either performance or time fails you lose your job or get underpaid. You might not be able to love yourself for that making evolution of your spirit difficult if not impossible.
Some earn their living by solving problems for others. They thrive on performance. The risk is medium. That might enable you to love yourself and improve your self esteem and also create the right platform to evolution of the human spirit.
Few earn their living by accepting challenges or by challenging themselves. They thrive on their innate skills loving applied to challenges that bolsters self esteem. The risk is low enough to bother much enabling natural evolution of the human spirit.
Only a rare few amongst us earn their living by creating opportunities for others and themselves that stubbornly refuses to border on exploitation. They thrive on love alone. And the risk is nil. Evolution of the human spirit is almost guaranteed.
The opportunity and choice of evolving ourselves are in our hands.
Govindo Chakraborty is an atheist. Many a days he went to bed hungry. There was no money. His father did not send him to school as he could not afford his education. His other three brothers passed out from reputed colleges and got jobs.Not knowing what to do, Govindo boarded the next available train from Howrah station not even aware where it was going. The train took him to Punjab. He was fourteen years old then. He spent the night at the platform. He approached a Sardaji for a job. The Sardarji took a liking for Govindo and took him to his home.
Govindo learnt that Sardarji was in sports gear manufacturing business. He had a large factory making cricket bats, hockey sticks, carom boards, cricket balls, footballs all manufactured under a reputed sports brand. Govindo was wander struck how with precision they made those cricket bats. Govindo made up his mind; it is this business which he has to do. His lack of education would not hamper the progress.
Govindo was a quick learner. He grasped the intricate details. The special type of wood, the seasoning, the measurements ----- Govindo learnt it all. This was the profession that kept him alive mentally and physically. On his twenty fifth birthday, Govindo boarded a Kolkata bound train. He was determined set up his own sports manufacturing activity in his hometown.
Govindo along with a handful of craftsman started making cricket bats and carom boards for local youngsters. It was fun. Soon it became a hit with the youngsters. They helped to spread the word all around. The goods were of good quality and priced moderately. His enterprise flourished. People from neighbouring districts came to buy his products in bulk. Govindo started to send his consignment to neighbouring states.
Govindo Chakraborty has now thirty craftsmen working under him. He has opened five shops and a warehouse. He still does not visit any place of worship.
But he is still an entrepreneur at heart loving what he does best!
Note:
This story was contributed by Mr. Sitendu De. Grateful for his contribution.
Suresh Sen migrated to Kolkata from Faridpur, Bangladesh immediately after independence. It was just after independence and employment was scarce. Not knowing what to do he joined a ceramic making factory as an apprentice. He got a pittance with which he was unable to maintain his family. Suresh Sen used to work throughout the day trying to learn the tricks of the trade.
A decade past by. Suresh was deft in handling the job. He knew well almost everything of ceramic clay pottery ---- the types of clay, the right temperature, designs, marketing of the products. Suresh had a dream of opening a ceramic factory of his own. He approached four of his friends who were also in the ceramics profession to pool in their resources. They agreed.
They had built their own dream factory and started by selling bone china pottery. Selling was brisk but volume was large. He had to acquire more space for keeping his finished products. Another problem arose was of different designs and the luster of the product. He had to keep pace with the designs. With Chinese one up in the race he had to compete with them. Soon he started loosing in the race. His sales figure dwindled. His friends deserted him taking away their share of profits. His workers did not desert him. They had faith in this man.
Suresh was crestfallen. He thought heavens had fallen. His savings were unable to sustain him for a long time. He wondered around for advice. Many consultants drove him away. Suresh was not to be cowed down for long. A reputed consultant advised him to change his product. They told him to switch over to ceramic power insulators. He quickly approached the power sector manufacturing units. There was huge shortfall of the products and they wanted more.
Once again the factory smoke bellowed from the chimneys. Production gained momentum. Now he made only ceramic insulators. There were no friends as partners. His grown-up sons and daughter-in-laws helped him. Within a couple of years he bought another factory at Kalyani, 15 kms from Kolkata. Many people approached him for work. But he trained them in ceramic making so that they earn their livelihood. Many people under his influence opened up shops selling ceramic products. They also earned handsomely.
There was a stream of mourners when Suresh Sen died. After all the people owe to him a lot.
Was he a successful businessman or did he only listen to advices? What made him successful? How did he contribute to society?
Maharaja Jaisingh - 1688 - 1743 - (photo taken from the murals of the Jaipur museum).
Maharaja Jaisingh was an exceptional king. Amongst many of his great achievements in the 18th century was building of the city of Jaipur, which is still intact, vibrant and fully operational. But he built this city with a purpose. He wanted it to be a great trading center rather than a fort like city which was the prevalent style during those days.
And he hit upon a very novel idea. He thought to turn his subjects into micro entrepreneurs and traders so as to transform his desert kingdom into a wealthy and flourishing one. With this in mind he built small shops within the city with wide roads for transportation of goods. He also wanted to make it aesthetically pleasing. Therefore all buildings were made out of pink colored stones from which the city got its name the 'Pink City', where none of the buildings could be built beyond a certain height.
It was a rather exceptional idea to rent out these newly constructed shops in the heart of the city to commoners rather than to noblemen of his courts. He charged them a very small rent in exchange of letting them run their family business from these spaces for commerce. Even after 200 years of their existence the value of the rent has gone up to measly sum of Rs 30/- a month (under $1). The idea was not profiting from the rentals but letting people learn and do business and add wealth and cultural value to the princely state of Jaipur. A casual round of the place shows us the great variety of trades and professions the people were engaged in, most of which continues till this day. Businesses are passed down from one generation to the next. Artisans (read freelancers) flocked to this place from all over India not only to enrich the culture of the place but also put a permanent signature of their unique quality at affordable prices.
This had far fetching repercussions and implications on the development of the nature and structure of Indian businesses, some of which are the following:
1. Created a class of astute and die-hard business families called 'Marawaris'. They hate to do anything other than business.
2. Augmented the concept of 'family business', which is the prevalent style of doing business in India.
3. Promise and trust were the cornerstones of doing business where verbal agreements were equally honored like written agreements.
4. Promoted local crafts that pulled together designers, artisans, businessmen, freelancers, entrepreneurs, job seekers all over India especially from Bengal and Gujarat. The impressions of their fine art work of Bengal and Gujarat seem to be all over the place in Northern India, which even found a prominent place in Muslim and Mugal artifacts. Over time people from Gujarat were also sucked into becoming small and big businessmen but Bengalis stuck to their nomadic freelancer and micro entrepreneur life style. In that way they not only became the second largest community scattered all over India but also the eleventh richest community in the world.
5. Preservation of traditional crafts and professions till date, which the British wanted to obliterate with standardization of their products supported by efficient transportation connecting thousands of villages across India. It is in the desert region of Rajasthan that they miserably failed to push their concept of standardized and cheap products carried through an efficient railways system. This happened because British goods did not suit the local needs or matched the culture of the place. Their products weren't life centric as the traditional products were.
6. This brings up the unique topic of designing 'life centric products'. For instance, in these markets, one would find a blanket that weighs about 100 grams, which can be folded into a very small size. The unique life centric feature of such a blanket is that it is cool on one side and warm on the other. Such an artifact is completely life centric to the nomadic tribes of the region. It is light and small to carry and can be used both in the daytime when temperatures soar and in the night when the mercury dips too low. The brass vessels used for storing water serves as another live example of a life centric product. People in the desert have used brass vessels for storing brackish water to turn them into potable drinking water for centuries. So the traders still sell brass vessels so useful in a place used to having scanty or no rainfall during the whole year. Even today, these traders are busy selling such life centric wares, which as I saw kept evolving over time with changing contexts.
7. The business models that operate are built on three vital principles -- a) Robustness b) Resilience c) Natural cycles and rhythms linked to patterns of living. They have cleverly blended the concepts of robustness/reliability with resilience into their products and business models. The products are cheap, aesthetically pleasing and reliable over long periods of time. As opposed to concepts of robustness and reliability these businesses, which have stood the test of time, primarily evolved around the concepts of resilience and patterns of living tied to Nature. The businesses were resilient to stand the test of time since they had the innate ability to detect changes in the likes, dislikes and changing demands of the people and times (a sort of collaborative effort) to quickly adjust and adapt to those changes. It means rather than think in terms of fixed and often larger volumes, scaling up, improved infrastructure etc the businesses were in tune with the patterns of living of the masses that varied with the rhythms and cycles of nature. People needed different artifacts at different times of the year hence the supply was not tuned to a pump out a steady constant volume pushed month after month over the year based on average 'customer needs' to minimize operating costs to maximize profits but churned out in variable volumes in collaboration with the customers' patterns of living to meet variable demands at different times of the year. Hence these family businesses never felt a need to grow beyond the space their small shops provided them for the past 200 years. They persevered in adapting, maintaining and creating wealth within the constraints of their given space. I was indeed fascinated by the remarkable business model that not only obviates the need for constant capital infusion to keep one's neck above water but also creates unimaginable wealth for the families and others. (See a live success story of such operating model being used as a strategy in competitive environment here)
(A glimpse of the old shops running their family businesses in the Pink City, October 2011)
My visit to the Pink City was more than enlightening. I was rewarded by sudden but deep insights in to the business psyche of the Indians and a possibe model that would serve us in the future.
The new questions that arise in my mind now are:
1. What are we doing to preserve these principles in the present context?
2. Can start ups and new entrepreneurs take a leaf out of these old lessons to model their business?
3. How can we create a platform or network of such budding entrepreneurs and make them thrive and grow over the years just like Maharaj Jaisingh did in his Pink City?
4. What we need to do to move from the business models based on robustness and reliability to a business model that primarily focuses on resilience without sacrificing resilience.
5. How can we bring down the operating, inventory and product costs through design rather than through scale ups, speed of operation and the constant need for capital infusion to increase infrastructure to accommodate growing volumes?
6. All our notions about business models and operating our businesses would change once we adopt the resilience model over robustness model. That would throw up hundreds of new questions to be answered.
I have just grown to love entrepreneurs -- design thinkers of sorts, who operate in seemingly impossible situations, solving problems with their heart & guts.
I feel this resilient way of doing business through micro entrepreneurs, where individual capital investment need not be high, holds the key to shape and inspire the future economy of the world, which presently is collapsing to its death crying out for a major transformation.
I think Design Innovation matters in everything we do as human beings. In fact, Design Innovation Rules the World!
It is the fundamental tool we have to create competitive impacts, improve the performance of companies, create wealth, create jobs and improve the society as a whole.
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