From Flow to Pool - an Innovative Approach

Invention, Innovation, Creativity, Passion, Attrition, Aspiration, Services, Products, Bench, Research, Grass, Billings, Profits – All are cordially invited to join me relate these! This is the beauty of relationships. Touch one and the other either blossoms or sleeps.

Indian IT Industry, a magnet for young graduates few years back now seems to be a rusted Iron. 4 years in same company sends strong signals to peers about ones in competency in the Market. Employees feel drained, more by seeing their peers switch jobs and move up the ladder than by actually disliking their present jobs. This is the beauty of relationships.

The grass is always greener on the other side. A services lad aspires to work for an esteemed products company. While a Product guy is lured by an exciting, dynamic Services career. They both see value at each others place. This is the beauty of relationships.

“On Bench” – a word with different meanings for different people. To some, it means Frustration. To others, it is a paid vacation. Some use it to enhance their skills by engaging themselves in various Certifications while others motivate themselves to intentionally remain On Bench to prepare for an upcoming Post Graduate entrance exam! Indeed, a versatile word “On Bench” – it overwhelms me with its variety of effects on one and all.

Attrition, a word so common now that it can be added to the Indian vernacular dictionaries, is found to be in a complicated relationship with all that is said above. “On Bench” period and experiences play a major role in employees either leaving company or getting fired. Recently 500 associates getting fired from TCS made headlines in all leading dailies. A majority of them were either “On Bench” during that period or recently allocated after a long “On Bench” experience. “On Bench” is a point of disengagement of an employee from his Organisation. It is the most critical time for both. Let us make the most of this moment of truth.

Now, let us interestingly combine all these and think from the perspective of a Services Company with the sole intention of making its employees believe that the Grass is actually greener on their side. At any given point of time, the largest project in any IT Services company is that of “On Bench”. I propose to use this huge talent pool as a strength rather than a weakness. Let us harness the tremendous strength of “On Bench” employees by making them work on In-House Products. Let us get rid of this term “On Bench” from the IT Industry. Lets begin today by calling this pool of talent as “On Products” instead of “On Bench”. This shall cater to the needs of numerous employees to work for a Products company. This shall give the bright minds Time & Space to Innovate and Invent. This shall pave way for a normal Services company to establish a strong Research & Development centre. This shall be the beginning of the numerous Products from an otherwise Services company and who knows that in future “On Products” becomes the leading revenue generator for the same.

“On Products” is certainly a non billable project but so was “On Bench”. The benefits of “On Products” can be reaped in the long run when the products are created and ready to be customized for different clients. I have a model in mind of how to implement this proposal. Most importantly “On Products” is a low risk initiative and different models can be experimented in the beginning.

In the present scenario, all leading IT companies are focusing on attracting new talent with little or no focus at all on retaining existing talent. Organisation and employee goals are getting segregated. HR, instead of working to amalgamate these goals, are forced to meet Organisational goals at the expense of employee’s goals. This is the moment of truth for HR only if they could revive the Synergy of the employees and the organisation!

Innovation is the answer.

Believe me, there is no shortage of talent. It is just getting transferred from one organisation to another or getting wasted somewhere. Big companies are surviving the flow of talent by virtue of their well established processes which makes the flow smooth and clears the passage of any blockages. But is surviving the only Intention? Small/Medium size companies are more keen to develop a pool rather than a flow for you can deep dive in a pool to find a hidden treasure somewhere which is just not possible in a flow.

We Invent to create a new world and we Innovate to make our existing world better. Let us all say that I shall Invent one day, let me start by Innovating today!