LE 01
(21.06.2012)
After thinking for quite a while as to what should be the
structure of my write up, finally decided that no better way to start my blog
than this question:
Who is Dr.
Mandi???
His actual name is Dr T Prasad but he is called Dr Mandi! He came across as a
vivacious person who created this unique event called “Mandi” at my college,
who is more than a proponent for Entrepreneurship! Affected by his infectious
enthusiasm, I ventured into making my ideas a tool for “minting money”.
“Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamaungi!!”
“We don’t
need no Education!”
Pink Floyd voiced it and we are to see to it that our coming
generations do not have to mug up the courses and regurgitate the same on
answer sheets and be called “EDUCATED”! To bring the change we want, we have to
be the change!
What
exactly do we need and What can we do about it????
Stringent curriculum, unaffordable fees and less/no stress on
practical aspects of education are the bugs to be taken out in the first go.
Teaching (a+b)^2 can be as simple as seeing the faces of an intelligently
coloured cube rather than mugging up the formula without knowing the reasons!
To grow a mind, we have to LET it grow. Putting limitations
by ignoring the actual learning and scoring most in exams will only result in
making robots of different faces of our future generation.
In the further combats, creative competitions can be
experimented with to make teaching-learning process fun to be a part of.
The most important role to be played is of the mentors, who
will encourage the students to think, to question when they have a different
logic, to ask what is correct and how.
How do we
do it???
At NITIE, our Dr Mandi has started a tradition of making
students self dependent, making them earn whatever is being given to the
Institute as fees! Instead of making our education (an expensive one at that!)
a burden on our parents, the adventure part is brought into the picture. Every
student has to compulsorily register a legal company of his own and run it on
his abilities.
Applying all the concepts we learn in the class, practical
implementation is immediately tested in the market by us students and results
come our way in terms of profit and loss!
What we
did???
Sounds pretty flowery when you talk about establishing a
company of your own and having the luxury of being the owner! However, to run a
company is a challenging job. A simple exercise of completing a task with
limited resources in a time bound manner and finishing it to perfection was
rehearsed by the class by a simple game of constructing a single cube tower!
The catch was that the person making the tower was blindfolded and the working
hand tied! What seemed to be an impossible task went on like this in the
class...
A happy mayhem followed when we couldn’t bear to remain
seated and started cheering the builders from all sides!!
A proud mentor after accomplishment of task!
A simple tower as this took close to 2 hours of hard work!!
Building an organisation and running it can be compared with this exercise.
Entrepreneurship can be this gruelling and more... but what is better than
earning your meal and knowing it before you sleep at night!
Takeaway
Now how did all happen??? What was the modus operandi???
A goal of minimum 18 cubes was set by the builders and to
ensure that they produce the desired results, their money was put at stake!
This all sounded very familiar to me when I recalled our goal
setting process at HPCL. At the beginning of each financial year, all of us had
to set our goals and targets for the upcoming year in concordance with the
support functions. Only setting of goals was not enough!! At the end of each
quarter, every employee had to review his performance and send the same to
higher ups for their appraisal and review.
At the end of each year, performances were evaluated basis
the goals set and the achieved actuals. Based on this, employees were rated by
a process called “performance rating”. 1 raters were employees exceeding all
their targets and so on.
Significance of this performance rating was that at the end
of each FY, a part of the profits generated by that business entity of
Corporation was shared amongst the employees in the form of “Performance
Related Pay”! If you are a 1 rater, you receive the max profit part owing to
your contributions!
To improve the ratings and further maintain them, we used to
set the goals SMART ly!
S: specific –
clear distinct targets
M:
measurable – target vs actuals measurement to be made possible for better
evaluation of performances. For example, achievement of expenditure of 60
crores as against a target of 55 crores!
A:
attainable – Practically achievable targets considering the market situation.
R: realistic
– relevant and realistic targets ensuring that the right resources are utilised
at the right time.
T: time
bound – Time saved = money earned!
Socho becho!!! bechi Sikho!! Sikho Socho..... SMARTly!!!
