Hiring a professional

As India started reaching out to the global era, the business in its desire to scale up started looking out for Subject Matter Experts (SME) in the desired fields.

The reason for looking for a subject matter expert is

• To cut the time frame of business building
• Not to re-invent the wheel when some one can offer the experience
• To ensure business delivery

While one would like to have the bread to be buttered on both sides, it may not be the case most of the time. For business to choose the right SME is a task, for an SME being accountable is a necessity.

We do have many SME’s who are known icons in their field and most of the time, they choose the client and clients do follow the norms laid out by the iconic SME. While most of them are capable of delivering, some tend to lead the client into the path they are known best to deliver irrespective of the suitability of the mode.

In most situations a SME doesn’t want to be tied down to a commitment of delivery, since he is not involved in the day to day business operations. This is seen by the business owners as a negative and expect him/her to be part of the delivery system. We use an auditor to give us guidance in tax planning do we make him part of the working team, then why expect a SME to be part of the team.

Yes, client can demand that the SME builds the right team, who can deliver. If an SME is not even willing to do that, probably client can keep him/her at an arm’s length. Most of the time clients do the scouting through known contacts and end up meeting people and then start getting to know about them. It is very important for a client to decide in which areas he needs to use the SME and accordingly search for him.

Tips on hiring a good SME:

• Has he been talked about or he is an icon
• Is he having good knowledge of the turf for which you are planning to hire him (a preliminary meeting might resolve this)
• Where all do you expect him to provide you the expertise and are you convinced that he has the required exposure in the said field (Ex: Exposure to rural markets, if you intend to sell something to a farmer/villager)
• Are you convinced that the time he is prepared to spend with you is sufficient for you to achieve your goals
• Agree upon on certain pre-set timelines for a given task
• Avoid people who can offer you solutions in all areas unless they have a very competent team which can deliver the package
• Do not feel embarrassed to grill the SME, if required, to understand his knowledge
• Be convinced of what is proposed, if required ask for case studies, please make sure you are totally with the proposed ideation

Areas where the client has to have an open mind,

• You and your team should be ready to accept the radical changes SME may propose
• Are you willing to spend the kind of monies that might be required as per the SME game plan or be clear to him on what is your budget?
• Make sure your team sees him as a benefactor and not a threat
• Be open with your business goals, so that he can provide you a workable plan
• Be prepared to pay the right professional fee to the SME whom you propose to hire, remember if an SME is compromising, his delivery too could be compromised.
• Business owner should always have an interface with the SME and not leave him to the executive to handle, and then it will only lead to a blame game.

Most of the time client looks for cheaper alternatives and might loose out on the business plan implementation and might burn up good cash too, pursuing ill formed strategies. To make accountability a pre-requisite, client’s are now a days willing to part with some equity in lieu of services, in case of new businesses. While this is something a SME has to decide if it makes sense for him in terms of effort hours and the given benefit, it may not be the most ideal model as client might have issued the equity at a very low value.

If the suggested care is taken a SME could be hired on a mutually acceptable remuneration and use him till the needs are fulfilled. Knowing that SME costs money the client might like to set short term objectives and once he reaches that goal post it might be a simple duplication and moving forward thereafter. That way client can demand action, Equity model can bring in complacency at both ends and in case the business is not moving forward the SME could simply stop showing too much interest, since for him it is any way a lost cause.

It is very important that the client gets to hire his SME with his eyes wide open and get the required result through him, as no business person can loose both time and money in today’s competitive world by choosing mediocre talent as an SME.

Right SME – in time delivery – early success

Overloading

When you read about overloading of vehicles, one get’s to wonder why and how this happens.

We have a department of Transport which certifies that a particular vehicle can carry a maximum load. This could vary from 1 ton to 25 tons depending on the type of commercial vehicle and am sure, they have very stringent parameters to arrive at, what load a vehicle can carry. Inevitably the operator of the commercial vehicle goes about loading more than the permitted level and you will find these vehicles going like laggards on the roads.

In the area where I am presently operating from I notice two types of cargo being transported regularly beating all the permitted loading limits. One is Sand, which is illegally transported from the river banks to the near by metropolis. These multi axle vehicles which are permitted to carry 16 tons only, will not carry less than 25-30 tons depending on the vehicle condition. Similarly we have movement of Iron ore from mines which are located some 250-400 kms to a nearby port from where they are exported. All the vehicles carry at least double the permitted tonnage, since the cargo is confined within the body of the vehicle due to its weight.

What is the wonder is, when a vehicle is considered to be designed to carry ‘x’ weight how is it effortlessly transporting ‘2x’ times cargo. Either the permitting parameters are in-correct or we truly have an indigenous way of reworking on the chassis of the vehicle to make them carry double the permitted load.

I am made to understand that the vehicle movement keeps happening with the help of a ‘Green card’ or ‘Passport’ system. All these vehicles make a monthly payment to the transport department unofficially and the system is so well oiled even state boundaries have no limitations. The fee is supposed to be around Rs.47000-00 per month and we have at least 1000 vehicles transporting the Iron ore everyday. Considering that the vehicle takes two days for every trip considering the loading and unloading process at the mine and the port, there are some 2000 such trucks operating. These vehicles are approximately paying a sum of Rs.9.5 crores a month or a whopping Rs.114 crores per annum shared by transport department officials in the areas where the vehicles are plying and probably the line moving upwards too. No doubt with an understanding that when ever there is some hue and cry there will be a token stoppage and levy of penalty. This I am talking about in one area and imagine the nation wide impact if you analyze the amount of vehicular movement near every port town/city.

If you talk to the transport department officials their answer would be we are understaffed, we do not have enough resources to stop this, blah, blah….. But intentions are certainly not strong as they get the monthly facilitation fee or for a sincere officer (hard to find) it could, simply be political pressure.

My question is, is it so difficult to verify and catch the culprits, if they are called one. I believe it is the will that is required. One could simply seek the records of the port and see which vehicle carries how much load or ask the sales tax /mining department about the billing/permit pattern to verify the invoice/delivery Note/permit (which ever is applicable) to see what is the quantity carried in a given vehicle since a bill/permit cannot be split into two vehicles. With the help of this information one could simply arrive at the tonnage a vehicle carried and department should empower itself to send a challan post the delivery also, like they send it for road offences. Now in case there is some fudging of records at the port to avoid detection, like splitting the load onto two vehicle numbers, one could depend on the Toll gate records to see how many trips a vehicle has actually made.

Next issue is the cost of transportation, a mine owner/ exporter is willing to pay only a fixed amount of freight from the mine to the port, considering his own costing. A transporter then is looking at making his business profitable and going about overloading.

Why is a vehicle carrying overload, is it simply greed or our taxation system is encouraging this. A deeper study on this is needed as the quarterly taxation is considered quite high and also the toll levy for the road use is on the higher side. A possible solution could be more vehicles on the road, which helps industry to benefit, offsets the revenue loss in reducing the quarterly tax to the state exchequer, more vehicles means more employment, as each commercial vehicle employs a minimum of three people. More vehicles on the road mean no reduction of revenue to the NHAI.

In spite of all this if there is still overloading going on then the guilty should be punished very strongly. We could have the toll gates being provided with weigh bridges and if any vehicle is seen carrying more weight, toll bridges should be empowered to levy penalty and offload the excess cargo (this is suggested due to the fact, roads are the worst affected due to overloading, the undulations we notice on the highways is more due to the overloaded vehicles parked on the road side). Since lot of staff is present at the toll gates this could be facilitated without much additional recurring cost.

Probably there is a case for re-visiting the norms for fixing the permitted load, since vehicles are able to carry double the permitted loads.

May god open the eyes of all concerned and ensure this overloading menace is stopped at the earliest.

Divorce – Parental role

“Kaki pilla Kakiki muddu”, is an old adage in Telugu which means ‘even if the child is ugly it is adorable to it’s parent’. Proving that right are the present generation of parents about any dispute in a marital relationship. It is necessary to support our children when they are facing a disagreement of minds after leading a married life with their spouse. Can this support be blind or can we be blinded to the reality by covering up our child’s own short comings.

First thing parents do now a day’s, is to come and take a protective stance, it may be necessary, however, will have to be revised on a rational basis. Many a case of divorce instead of reconciliation is due to the tough stand taken by the parents than the couple themselves.

Having developed a liking to each other and due to some random or regular disputes people face the discontent in a marriage. During this period ‘liking’ takes a back seat and most of the time parental pressure doesn’t allow the couple to think and act rationally. In the olden days where joint families were the order of the day, these kind of situations were talked out and people were made to see reason etc.

But today’s nuclear family situation makes things more difficult. With the increased acceptance of the word ‘Divorce’ there is very little tolerance to each others shortcomings. No doubt two people come together with very little understanding of each other, then start accommodating each other. If there is a level of less tolerance on any one side the bickering starts in a marriage. Sometimes it is money (too much or very little of it), Attitudes, personalities, Behaviour etc. what ever may be the cause the result today is break-up.

I recently read a quote “Successful marriage is a union of two forgivers”, how correct it is. If we don’t forgive our own partner then what else is expected. Most of the times understanding between the couple is very insufficient, while in some other cases the momentary bursts which cause disharmony. I heard of a case where one divorcee was looking for a new job for it’s ex partner, now is it not strange when you consider they had a very bitter marriage, when it lasted, always fighting. Could this marriage been saved, only the erstwhile couple or it’s parents can comment.

A divorce becomes more painful when it involves minor children. For their sake if the divorce is inevitable it should be a mutual rather than a bitterly fought out one. Grand parents of the children will have to be very careful with their comments, while supporting their respective wards. Children, who are very sensitive, can quickly develop hatred when they hear wrong remarks about their parents by the grand parents in particular.

Bad mouthing the son/daughter-in-law is the given thing for the parents. Some times it might actually make their own ward feel distant towards them, as the ward believes their comments are in-appropriate. Some times there is lot of pressure on the ward to go through with the divorce, so that they can bring in a more amenable spouse for their ward, can some one guarantee this, no way.

First step of intervention is when parents notice certain amount discontent towards each other. Make the move, have a honest chat with the couple separately. Do not get blinded by love towards your own ward. If you see some merit in the spouse’s side of the version then be prepared to talk it out with your own ward. Make genuine effort to reconcile and make the couple see reason. Talk it out with the sambandhi’s and involve them too. However do not make the adage ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ come true.

If divorce is inevitable try and make it mutual one rather than a contested one, lawyer’s make you say things (only to make the case stronger) which you might have never even considered saying. In case there are children involved make sure their future is well thought out, one would not like to see their own grand child hitting the streets.

Very few marriages have the chance to succeed if not for the understanding and forgiveness of the couple towards each other. While love is always there once they come together, it gets forgotten in the fit of anger. Push the love to the front and lead a happy married life, as I said earlier there is no guarantee of light at the end of the tunnel.

Fire in train coaches