Without an iota of doubt, now it has become evident, nurturing  knowledge is the only ‘Success Sutra’ in the fiercely competitive corporate world.

Where can a Corporation hope to get an edge over its rivals and stay aloft head and shoulders above all? This was the question asked to a group of successful CEOs. Some said INNOVATION in the market. Some agreed, it’s ORIGINALITY. And a few others opined, it’s the understanding of CUSTOMER NEEDS.

True, all of them are right. But, the source of all the three essentials is knowledge. And its only source is People. So let’s call them as Knowledge workers. Summing up all we can conclude an organisation’s best assets are its Knowledge workers.

Urgent need

The necessity of Knowledge workers has become more important than ever before, after the liberalisation and Globalisation. Now the global borders and fences are wiped. In order to survive the competition from influx of people from other countries and to compete with other knowledge workers in other countries, it’s necessary to have a strong and sturdy system known as ‘People Management.’

‘Nurture knowledge’ is the war cry reverberating in the corridors of Corporations.

Right people in the right jobs

They say good writing is all about putting right word in right place. The same principle applies in ‘People Management’. Placing right people in right jobs is real People management.

Remember the Chinese proverb that compares you with a Gardner and treat men like plants.

• If you want to plan for an year, plant corn;
• If you want to plan for for three years, plant a tree;
• If you want to plan for ten years, plant people

What’s  People Management

People management stresses on the fundamental fact that people can be molded in whatever way we want them to be. The beautiful artifact adorning your corner table in your drawing room was a once a lump of clay. The potter who molded that lump of clay in to a stunning piece of art, and the Gardner who shaped the unruly plants in to an amazing shape are the architects , who are responsible in  causing the change.

Now here you will take the role of a Gardener or a Potter to mould the people, who in turn will shape the destinies of the institutions or corporations.

Lead from the front.

Leading from the front means, you are signifying those who are behind you that by treading the way in which you are walking will lead them in to their respective destinations. And while leading, if your movements are fast, your followers’ movements also will be fast. If you are sluggish, the followers follow the suit. Remember, because you are walking right in front of your followers ,every action of yours is being observed by your followers. So be cautious, not to make any wrong move.

When you encounter  a hindrance ,exhibit an exemplary courage to overcome the hindrance. Your courage speaks of your will power which in turn kindles an extraordinary amount self confidence who are just behind you.

If your office starts at 9AM and you turn up at 11 AM, people though they reached the office punctually at 9AM,  they will not work whole heartedly. 

There was a famine in the area and the common man was facing many problems even to get a morsel of food daily. Government’s efforts to fight with the famine are proving inadequate.. All the organizations and corporations  started contributing heavily to help the affected poor. In such conditions, the leader of the team came forward and declared that he is contributing 10 days of his pay as a donation to the draught relief fund.. without saying or instructing anything to contribute for the draught relief fund from his team members. 

But, seeing the leader contributing to the draught relief,  the members of the team started announcing their mite one after another. This is leading by example.

Know that setting an example will induce discipline in your followers more effectively than a lengthy lecture that lasts for 3 hours.

 Self –fulfilling prophecy.

Our thoughts in subconscious state,  play a key role in our deeds. Basing on these thoughts in the subconscious state, we arrive at decisions. There is nothing new or wrong in this pattern of subconscious state. To put it simple, if a person believes that he/she derives mental peace by prayer, we see him acting in tune with his belief. That means, that person is converting his thoughts in to actions.

The story of Pygmalion best illustrates all about Self- fulfilling prophecy.

Pygmalion was a gifted sculptor. Once he was commissioned by a rich Greek trader to sculpt a  marble sculpture of a lady for installing in his garden. After a few days of starting the sculpture, Pygmalion found that his sculpture was too good and perfect. The sculpture turned so good and attractive, Pygmalion fell in love with his own creation.

At one particular time, Pygmalion started talking with the lifeless statue as if, it was a real human. So strong was his belief in her that one day, real lady walked out of the statue of the marble. They married and lived happily for the rest of their lives. Though exaggerated, the story affirms the point that beliefs can be converted in to reality.

Now coming to the point, leaders should make their followers to believe in their strengths and convert them to deeds. This leads in turning the followers in to a committed lot.

Catch them doing something right

Making people is not a one day affair. It takes time. And during this time. If you are  the person at the helm of the affairs keep your eyes and ears open. If on any day you see one of your followers ore your own family members doing something right, applaud and appreciate with a full heart. And you see the change in behavior of the person. You can always see him trying to do better things. And in the process just imagine how fast the productivity shoots up.

Take initiative in celebrating their success.

Whet the appetite of your team members. Make them “taste the blood.” A tiger that tasted blood once will be after blood again and again. Similarly make the personnel in your team taste the success once. And you need not be after them for pursuing success. They are so self motivated, they will not be satisfied with a single success. They look forward for success after success.

If by any chance the employee encounters a failure, make him feel easy ensuring that failure is just a part of the game. Help him prepare for the next assault, while encouraging all the way.

Remember humans are prone to mistakes.

Every human being comes with certain inherent traits like laziness, greed, telling an occasional lie etc.  While making the persons for your team, take all these aspects in to consideration and give a certain tolerance for them. Care should be taken to observe to what extent the inherent traits are rooted in the employee. Generally they are not deep. Just ignore them as a trivia and focus on  the employee’s predominant  traits. As a team maker your concern is about the predominant features and taking full advantage of them.

It pays to forget their mistakes magnanimously.

Let it not be a single man show.

The present Management warrants for collective action.  If an idea has to go through success, it should be studied, understood by all the members of the unit or the team. Remember an orchestra?. The conductor cannot play an entire symphony alone. Some members play trumpets and some clarinets. Some are entrusted to play their notes on Violins and some on Piccolos.  The conductor sees to it that all these notes played by the different players of the team results in a melodious symphony.

While working with the team, it sometimes happens a team member owing to some reason may not be in a position to contribute his mite to his fullest potential. In such situations, the team leader has to find the reason for the member’s inability to contribute his share. The leader has to find out if it’s a  genuine reason. If it’s a pretext to evade the work, the concerned member has to be censured lightly for the first time. If he repeats it, let him be shown the gate. 

This is for underlining the ‘Answerability.’

We discussed about ‘Making people’ as in the present conditions. Making people for obtaining an extra edge to our organizations or corporations .

‘Management of people’ is not necessarily an activity related to only people working in an office or in an industry. Management of people is relevant wherever there is a human element is involved. It may be about managing the people in a family or in a school.