DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

While CEOs of most industries would proclaim that the challenges faced by them are enormous, I would go a step further in validating such claims in the domain of serviced apartments and professional corporate accommodation.

Suresh Tota

Ours is a nascent, sunrise industry that is perceived and expected to be low cost, that draws unfair comparisons with star hotels. With multiple locations, each handling multiple logistics, most of which are precariously entrusted with a set of managers, who in turn are the best candidates for attrition contribution. A set of raw housekeeping boys at the service of the guests, whom we have supposedly lured from the star hotels, whose ego needs to be addressed and compensated for the so-called perceived compromise. With compliance required with 15 plus government departments, whereas the smaller operators enjoy the luxury of being away from government limelight, with TDS issues, fund liquidity, expansion plans, training, quality, innovation, the list could go on.

What makes the clock tick is the process. In the earlier days of our organization, one of our mentors had told ius that in a small enterprise most issues are personally performed, supervised and managed by the entrepreneur. The quality of the deliverables would be incomparable. However, in large enterprises, learned & wise experts at the helm of the affairs ensure the deliverables. At that level there is the luxury of being able to afford consultants and quality certifications.

The acid test is in the transformation from the small to large, which challenges the entrepreneur’s ability to decide on aspects that have holistic impact on the organization. It is during this critical phase that we need to ensure that the gap between the quality of desired and the actual output is minimum. The key to a successful transformation is in designing, customization, implementation management, monitoring, and constant evaluation of processes that are setup to reduce this quality delivery gap.

While designing the process, it is very important or rather imperative to make a shocking assumption, that everybody who is partaking in the system is DUMB. When in the process, please do not let people think and decide by themselves, but just follow the instruction and hence play along the process. The point I am making is that the decision should not be that of the individual, but that of the organization, which is impregnated in the process. Let us draw a simple comparison with a computer. Computer components do not think. The software (the process) gives instructions which are followed by the components, thus creating the near zero quality gap. If the millions of participating diodes and other components partook in the evaluation of the instructions, or started thinking, imagine.

In my trips abroad, at the cash counters of departmental stores, when I saw that the attendant could not add $ 8, $ 5 and $ 19 without a calculator, I found it amusing. We Indians are much smarter, I thought. But then came the realization that there lies the problem. We are smarter in things that we don’t need to be. Their process tells them to use the calculator, irrespective of the amount, where there could be no error. If the attendant starts thinking that he could do it mentally, we are leaving it to his judgment to play on the balance sheet of the company.

During my photo sessions in the guest room for our company brochures, I thought that the bath towel placed in the bed would look better if one edge was slightly ruffled and I ventured to do it. Since it looked good on the photo, we decided that we will have similar placements of towels everywhere. The next time, I saw two edges folded. Later, there were multiple folds, folded in different angles making a mockery of the towel in the bed and the original concept. A far cry from the desired ‘ruffled feel’ to a ‘rusted feeling’. The mistake was allowing the room boy to decide what would be good. He would do it to his taste and his taste need not necessarily match with that of the owner or more importantly the guest, thus creating a gap in quality. With our process, we have at least solved this with a simple instruction-place it in the bathroom towel rack.

Unfortunately, there is no ‘One size fit all’ process or systems. There are no fit-it forget-it processes also. The processes, whose ultimate objective is to improve the quality output of the deliverables, should be designed with the local business environment. The processes needs to mature with time and that too would require tinkering from time to time by the top management. More the entrepreneur spends his personal bandwidth on the setting up of processes and systems, more the distance the enterprise will travel smoothly. Simply put, better processes lead to a better quality of life in general at the workplace. Just like every problem needs to be viewed as an opportunity for implementing a solution, every instance of a problem or an anticipated problem needs to be captured and integrated to make the enterprise, a process driven one.

While the policies of the company could be elaborate, immaculate and praiseworthy, the processes ensure that these policies are implemented and the adherence is monitored. Don’t let the people run the process. That would be the recipe for ruining it instead of running it.