How to do things differently in Telecom?????

I remember the last blog-post that I had written. Telcos do not need engineers. This invited a lot of censure and on the other side showed the mirror of reality to many telco veterans and contemporaries. I had ended the blog by saying what is needed then? Well here I am to make an effort to answer these things.

Change is a continuous process and not that what will be valid today will be valid after five years. Technology changes as we speak and so does the methods to manage technology in a great deal.  So let us understand what are the new things that we should adapt to. I believe the members of the telecom fraternity should have reptilian tendencies these days in order to survive and be a positive contributor of this industry for a long time. We will classify these things as What is In and What is out?

1.    IN: “Work with me”  OUT: “Work under me”

The most critical point of management is the degree of authority. Authority is a responsibility and not just a right of seniority. However when authority becomes dogmatic then there is definitely a problem in the management style. There is an old saying “People join companies, people leave bosses.”; The saying unfortunately is true till date. Instead of this, it is required to behold a sense of "espirit-de-corps" that should prevail across the ranks. Vertical conflicts are a thing of past. Intellectual conflicts are the new things to watch out for. Ideas are nobody’s monopoly and definitely not a privilege of seniority. Therefore it is always necessary to take your juniors with you. Working with has a lot of advantages than making work under.

2.    IN: “Opinions of Juniors” OUT: “Approvals from Seniors”

Another very rebellious statement, but true! Telecom is an industry that is always shaped by fresh ideas. Fresh ideas cannot be expected from veterans of 10-20 years old, unless there is an unbelievable streak of innovation, which is rare in the Indian context. Any fresher that comes to your company is an asset. Not because you can make him/her laboriously, toil over mundane works but harvest new ideas from him/her. A fresher has a lot of imagination because he/she is undaunted by experiential difficulties and obstructions. A fresher or your junior is just scared to speak because of the weight of position that you throw to him/her knowingly or unknowingly. They are not outspoken sometimes because they feel they will be judged. An approval is a formality but an opinion can lead to a breakthrough and this can only come from the new generation. Experiences are good but they are good to guide the new generation and make them aware of the mistakes that had been made in past. Not to scare them with positional authority. Approvals are needed, only for leaves and protocols.

3.    IN: “Affinity for Automation” OUT: “Justifying the Manual Cause”

Times have changed and so have the approaches to a problem. Gone are the days were we needed a lot of manual staff to manage things that are routine. These have to be automated so that the expectations from human resources can be raised. Contrary to the feeling that automation is a killer of human opportunities, I believe it is an opportunity to raise the bar of human involvement in the field of telecom from being grossly mundane to being innovative and creative. Today’s telecom demands innovation and creativity. This has to come from every levels of the organization. For being creative the human mind needs something which is essential and that is time to think. Of course, there is a corollary which says that work keeps humans busy, but definitely mundane work makes them morose and more like zombies who after some years become of no use. Every human asset of the telecom company has to be a generator of creative and productive idea and that is why automation is required to shun the monotony that is prevalent in the industry.

4.    IN: “Leaders”    OUT: “Bosses”

Explained this before and now again explaining it. It has been long this discussion of leaders vs bosses have taken place and the toying of this idea has gained a lot of popularity. Now is the time to implement and evaluate this idea. A leader is a person who gives direction and takes the initiative to walk the talk. A boss on the other side is a generator of instructions and orders. Industry definitely needs leaders. In war-time you need leaders who can take you safe from the cross-fires and inflict minimum casualties rather than a boss who is not on the field and just instructing from a safe haven.

5.    IN: “Evaluating Technical Edge”   OUT: “Compliance”

This is especially to the people who are evaluating vendors or technology for their implementation. Most of the time they are obsessed about compliance overlooking the technical edge. This leads to a lower shelf-life of the network. There will be solutions that are unique in the market and are innovative, processes have to be bypassed for absorbing those. Regular processes make regular companies. To be a company that stands out there has to unconventionality in the processes. Because unconventional evaluation makes unconventional companies. The idea of providing internet through hot-air balloons was not evolved from a telco. Because a Telco always focuses of compliance, obliterating anything that is unique and outstanding. This definitely has to change.

6.    IN: “Process Management”  OUT: “People Management”

This is the generation of the millennials. They are focused. They know what they want and how they want it. They are coming inbuilt with a management guidance system in their personality. They are intrepid and they are also adventurous. They are passionate at times and at times they are totally detached. A traditional people management approach is futile in managing this generation of people. There is a need to accept the fact that this is the generation with most of the ideas and that too the creative ones. They are a treasure and a treasure is not people managed but protected and preserved. So the requirement is to have a process and a management of the process that lets the company and the industry at large harvest from this amazing pools of knowledge.

So there are a lot of things to change. These changes will come. Today it may seem to be a giggle factor or some philosophy in book, but they will certainly come and I am hopeful. I am betting on this change because of a simple philosophy. “If there was somebody who could stop progress and change we would be still living in the caves.”

On that note, I leave you now to decide and comment on this post of mine.

Cheers,

Kalyan