Does your organization have a career progression plan for your employees? How do you keep your employees motivated and engaged? Will they want to remain as small fish in a big pond or do they have an idea of becoming big fish in a small pond? Everyone yearns to grow. In a large conglomerate designations matter to people but it has to be balanced with corporate strategy and the growth plan for the organization. Employees today have dreams of becoming Directors and Partners of the Company they work for and if your business strategy does not address that aspect you will lose your good workers.

So where do we start? We start with Mission and Vision workshop of course!

 

We need to agree on the answers to the following:-

Who are we?

Whom do we serve?

What do we offer?

What are our values?

 

Then we proceed with SWOT and PEST analysis, Value proposition, Consumer/ Stakeholder insight and then …

Positioning

 

However, it turns out that some clients often do not have an idea of a stakeholder insights that they could leverage on to craft the value proposition for the company.

So what can one do in these circumstances?

No shortcuts…No assumptions or presumptions but solid Research must be carried out to discover insights!

In order to go forward, research must be conducted to figure out stakeholder insights.

It is only then we could see the roads, crossroads, and the by-roads clearly.

 

Search Light is a Facebook page dedicated to the recording of accounts of violence that have taken place in Sri Lanka during the last 40 years. We have had 2 insurrections and a 30-year civil war in our country. Search Light was designed to provide space for people to tell their story so that it would be included in annals of history and the future generations would learn from it and make sure that war and conflict will not reoccur in our land.

Search for Common Ground, an NGO in Sri Lanka conceptualized a project titled “Community Memorialization Project” which captured many stories of war widows, men, and women who underwent tremendous hardships during the war, lost their loved ones and who are now physically and emotionally scarred for life.  My task was to place these stories before the general public through social media.

The only way we could light up the way ahead and see where we are headed, as a community, country or as the human race is to turn on the search light and look at our past. We are not talking about a 600-kilowatt Searchlight here. That is why this page is named Search Light, not Searchlight. Our history has been filled with violence. If we are to learn from our history we need to search for stories that speak of human suffering amidst, violence and conflict, listen to them again and again, include them in annals of history written by the people, for the people, so that future generation will not make the same mistakes.

I was so happy when I was selected as the External Communication Consultant of a state authority. This was the first time in my career that I was going to work within a public sector setting. I burned so much of midnight oil working on strategy, writing copy and coming up with concepts to promote a value based society that will say no to all addictive substances and dangerous drugs. I had discussions with Radio Stations, TV Stations, Bloggers, Social Media Experts and even Artists and Musicians to promote good values.We were going to carry out a great campaign against dangerous drug trafficking in Sri Lanka.

Clean up Sri Lanka perhaps?

 

Then disaster struck our entire plans.

A petition against the Director General of the Institution (My Client)was sent to the highest authority in Sri Lanka. This appeared to be the work of a rival of my Client who was eyeing his job. My Client had just obtained an extension of 2 years even though he had reached the age of retirement. We were working on a multi million campaign. Allegations of misappropriation of funds, wastage of public money, work being given to “friends” were bombarded against my Client. The campaign had to be stopped because an internal audit had to first clear my client. Well, the audit cleared him and showed that all allegations were false. However, the man at the top was convinced not to extend the service period of my Client who had reached the age of retirement despite the fact that Number 2 of the country had extended my Client’s service period by 2 years.

So my client had to leave…

The project was shelved and the contract I had with the Institution was cancelled “until further notice”.

I demanded one month’s consultancy fees (For the period for which I worked) and I was paid in full.

Were there any other obvious elements behind the cancellation of this anti drug campaign? Or was I just caught in the crossfire of internal politics, jealousy and spite?

 

So what would you do when pressure groups and environmentalists single out your industry as the cause of a major health crisis? How do you cope with all the negative reports when the media is one sided and your voice is drowned by sensationalism? What can you do when expert views and scientific facts are ignored? How do you react when leaders of the country are advised by Buddhist Monks who have no knowledge and expertise on a subject in question and decisions are taken that will affect the food security of the country? That is when you have to turn to public relations and citizen’s journalism.

Those who fight for the well-being of poor communities are hailed as heroes and especially in the case where the opponents are depicted as multinationals,rich industrialists and businessmen. The so called crusaders are considered worthy to be given state honor. However in this case scientific facts are brushed aside ’cause they are a hindrance to their goal. Whose goal if I may ask? Politicians often consider only the number of votes they could gather at the next elections… and in Sri Lanka we have plenty of it. Frustration abounds when decision makers block their ears to reasoning but who are all ears to Rasputin  types who are most likely maneuvered and controlled by global corporations and imperialists. Rasputin of old knew what he was up to but Rasputin of Sri Lanka probably has no clue as to whom he is working for. Brick by brick a new edifice is being built to safeguard an industry. Rasputin has to be silenced, a conspiracy to cripple agriculture in Sri Lanka has to be exposed. Let’s see whether Avanke` communications model would work because the food on our table is at stake.

Many years ago, during the last century, when I was a child going to school, our teachers used to ask us what we would like to be when we grew up. Most of the students in my class would blurt out “Doctor”, “Engineer” , “Lawyer” in an attempt to impress our teachers regarding their supposed ambition and to show their knowledge about many professions that are out there… which appeared as if it is kept on a super market shelf, just waiting to be picked. I was a student who was quietly pondering about my future and asking myself the question, “Now what exactly do I want to be, and what can I be when I grow up?” None of the teachers to my recollection gave us career guidance or counseling of any sort. They responded with either a “Good” or a “Great” just to encourage us but never showed us how to find our life’s purpose. No one spoke of multiple intelligence theory… well this was in 1970’s but yet surely someone should have told us that the chances of becoming a medical doctor is kind of bleak (currently in Sri Lanka there is only one Doctor for 1187 persons)

 

50 years later I realize that I am still growing, I have many roles to play and I relate to different groups of people at the same time. I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother etc.,.. among many other things. Many of us who are in the informal sector play many roles;- service provider, supplier, consultant etc., etc. But I guess I lead parallel lives and I wear many hats. I am a Christian and a Father and have a role to play in bringing up my children. I am responsible to play a part in my community. I do not get paid for this type of work I do, and I am in the same boat as my wife who does not get paid for being a “home maker”. Today I am involved with civil society work, I am a researcher, a marketing communications and public relations strategist, internal communications expert, creative writer… and the list is rather long for a visiting card isn’t it? Jack of all trades and mater of none? Not quite. If I could be a husband, a father, a son, a brother etc.,.. among many other things why can’t I do many things to make a living? Does it make sense?

I think it does.

 

So when someone asks me what I do for a living I say I wear many hats. However I do not wear more than one hat at any given time. It keeps me fulfilled in life and happy. And most of all I am prepared for a rainy day… because I have many hats

“We need to build a team”, “We need to increase productivity and efficiency” “we need to change the culture” these are buzz words I often hear at large organizations. My first reaction is to tell the Head of the organization that he needs to listen to his people. Well he may think that he knows what his people are at … but after an internal survey they are often surprised. I believe that the approach should be to first open the ‘Can’. … It is a Can of worms you say? Then you better take all the worms out , clean it and use it for all its worth.

To change the company culture an internal survey is a must. One needs to know the aspirations of the staff, their emotional needs, how the company relates to their personal career, their relationship with management, superiors, peers and team members, their personal goals for 2017/18 and values, attitudes and staff engagement levels.

Once we get a thorough understanding of the staff, the internal communication strategy that is developed will be sound and robust and most importantly honest and credible. All messages will be accepted.

So don’t be afraid to open the ‘Can of Worms’. Maybe it is filled with that which is good and nice!

Listen to your staff. Get all the bright ideas you can get from them. After all people within may have better ideas than people without.