Yet another piece dug out from the memories past. Although this is an academic report, this was one of the time I did take a deep dive into my being and raison d'être, and this is the outcome...
1. Introduction[1]
The spectacular year finally came to an end – the Cranfield
FTMBA 2008-09 is over. The rest of the time
when I’ll be in campus, it will be time to retrospect the year I spent in the
Bedfordshire marshes – and what is a better way than to capture my reflections
in this report.
Initially, I planned to write the report without any
predefined structure; however, as the ideas came pouring into my mind, I
decided to put the report in three parts – Time before MBA and Part-1, Part-2
and finally, about the path beyond the MBA. Most of the pre-MBA objectives and
Part-1 objectives were discussed in the SOAR-1 report, and it also featured
some of my development targets during Part-2 of the MBA curriculum. The first
part of the report, therefore, will discuss the objectives of the SOAR-1 report
and their fulfilment during the Part-2 of the programme. The second part then
will discuss my reflections on the MBA curriculum and some of its highlights
and their effect on my personal development. Finally, the last part of the
report will focus on looking beyond the MBA curriculum and put the MBA into the
perspective of a more enriched view on life.
To put this report into perspective in terms of
applicability during and beyond the MBA curriculum, this is rather a candid personal
narrative around the incidents during the programme and the way they changed my
points of view toward any situation – personal or professional. In the text,
some of the situations or jargon was used in a rather inappropriate manner, to
make the report informal but to undermine the core objective of the MBA
curriculum.
2. The yester years…
Part-2 of the MBA curriculum began with an entirely new
format – enabling each individual to decide the extent of learning he wants to
extract from the programme. At the end of term-2, I almost felt a sigh of
relief that the learning team events will be over and I’ll have an entire half
to me to decide how I want to utilise that extra time. The GROW model discussed
at the beginning of the Part-2 seemed a perfect way to showcase our targets for
the coming two terms; and in order to achieve them, co-coaching method appeared
to be the perfect answer. First few sessions went as planned, as we were full
of enthusiasm about the new mode of curriculum; but as time went by, and we
were sucked into the vortex of numerous assignments and reports and
presentations and projects, the focus of the objectives were, to the least,
partially lost. When the SOAR-1 report was written, halfway through the MBA,
the vision was obscured by immediate, short-term targets – primarily around the
area of employment, skills development for the MBA curriculum itself, and
networking[2]. As we proceeded towards
the end of the curriculum, the priorities changed and our views became more
crystallised with increasing insight.
In this section, I will discuss the goals I set at the time
of writing SOAR-1 report, their progress as documented by the co-coaching
sessions and then, compare their intended outcomes at the end of the MBA and my
present standing in those situations:
2.1
Time management
My realisation during the time of writing SOAR-1 was that I
did not utilise my time well, which in turn, prevented me pursuing other
objectives beyond the MBA. From the beginning of term-3, I therefore, went into
an overdrive and tried to control everything to the order of milliseconds,
perhaps. As discussed with my co-coach, I drew up a grandiose timetable for
weekdays and weekends, soon to be found completely inadequate. I then relaxed
them a bit, but even then, I had too much on the list – more than I could manage
at a time; yet I completely missed the time allocation for the assignments.
When the realisation came, all the assignments had already come barging in, and
I discarded the timetable plan and adopted a ‘Just-in-time’ approach, like
right now, I am writing the SOAR-2 report on 24th August, as I know
I have enough time to write the report and the assessors, to check it. Where I
started charting every conceivable activity in coming two weeks, in the end
stage of part-2, I only keep a list of activities, updated as and when any
entry changes and struck them out when they are complete. So, to assess the
outcome of the objective, I am either a clumsy time-manager or an efficient one
– “it all depends”, as everything is “context-specific”!
2.2
Leading and influencing skills
As already discussed that I went into a control-frenzy at
the beginning of term-3, I thought that there will be leadership and
influencing opportunities galore. What I did not realised was, that there were
129 other students, who also wanted to become leaders and put similar
objectives in their SOAR-1. So my all exuberant leadership approach took a
nosedive right after the beginning of the second half, when we were to select a
country to do our IST report on. I preached selection of a Scandinavian
country, as they are doing quite well in international trade, and they are the
most happy countries in the world – so I wanted to see the humane factors
behind their ‘right balance’. However, it was turned down, as I was not
vociferous enough and realised that “I’ll never take up a sales job” (but that
is again stereotyping!). So, we chose Ireland , but what a great project
it was! I realised that I was acting rather like an amateur matador, who chased
the bull and panted and got tired; and that I should rather be an ‘empowering’
leader. To find out the leadership qualities I had, I also asked a few of my
previous team mates to give their unbiased feedback. Luckily or unluckily, I
only managed to get two feedbacks, giving contrasting information – one said I
led well, yet sometimes I tend to do everything by myself, the other said I
lacked it and was rather a ‘Plant’ type of personality, capable of playing
second-fiddle better than being the leader[3]. I took the back-seat and
actually steered the dynamics of the entire team, in other assignments, without
much gusto. In our Part-1 OBPPD reports and SOAR-1, we wrote about role playing
for each assignment, with manager, timekeeper etc. At the end of the programme,
I see no use to them, roles emerge naturally. Enforcing something on someone
he’s not can only hinder the progress.
2.3
Public speaking
When I look at the SOAR-1 report, sometimes I tell myself – “You
must be mental”[4]!
I believe that the frenetic pace of Part-1 blurred my vision and I lost the
focus on my priorities. It is true that coming from a non-native English
speaking background, we lacked some of the finer expressions of English
language (The one I really like is, what my co-coach Simon often used – “wing
it”…although he never used it regarding the co-coaching processes!). However,
all of us, who were selected here through quite a rigorous process, must be
adept in putting the ideas across the table. Of course, presentation skill is
an art – and we were lucky to have a past master like Steve Carver; yet it was
to develop with practice. However, the opportunities were scarce; there was a
Presentation club, but I never went to a session in Part-2. While in Part-1, I
was careful about the team performance, and therefore quite hesitant about
presenting. Come Part-2, and it all changed! I did some vey good presentations
especially GLB and IST and the lecture on China IBE in front of the whole
cohort and the faculty in the auditorium – it really boosted my confidence.
However, I learnt more from this, that we can always captivate the audience
with our innovation and shear information, rather than sweet-talking. So, in
the end of the MBA, I am leaving quite confidently that whatever be the topic,
if I have interesting data to share with audience, I will be easy with them,
and they will interact without much effort. Well, some preparation beforehand
in front of the laptop and observing the recordings always came in handy…
2.4
Preparation for interviews: assertiveness
After the first few weeks into the Part-2, I could strike
this target off from my list of priorities – not because I found a job – but
because I realised that jobs are not that easy to come-by these days and first
I’ll need a small stamp on my Passport called Tier-1 visa. Well, I’m still
being defensive in this, as I know that the situation is not like that –
otherwise around 25% of the cohort would not have found some placement – and I
needed something more. I appeared in a number of interviews but was not able to
convert them into further considerations. So, at the end of Part-2, I am fazed,
clueless about what to do, as I totally shifted my priorities from searching
for a job, while I was making the near perfect referencing list and editing and
reediting the assignment reports so we got above 60% marks in the modules!
Eventually we did, but I’m nowhere near my SOAR-1 target. However, the
breathing period between end-August and Christmas, when my Tier-1 is expected, will
come as a blessing-in-disguise, as I could reflect upon my skills, when I’ll be
tired playing crazy-taxi on Facebook (Just a couple of five minute games a day
to ensure proper blood-circulation in your fingers!).
3. Today, tomorrow…
I believe the report has been a
spoiler so far, talking superficially about finding excuses not to follow the
SOAR-1 objectives or success of them. It will be even more blasphemous if I
solemnly confess, that although I found the GROW sheets quite useful, I never
used them too religiously. In fact, we met only five times for the co-coaching
sessions, although initially we planned to have ten meetings – and I only
filled in two sheets (I said it’s a candid report!...it could be found anyway
from the annexure). Actually, between the SOAR-1 and now, something happened…
3.1
IBE
No experience during the MBA has been so enriching as was
the IBE. It actually changed the whole meaning and perspective of doing my MBA,
and opened new windows. Part-1 mostly dealt with hard MBA material, except for
some excellent Richard K mystic lectures – “There is a river flowing through
this room (LR9)”. When I saw so much emphasis around people management and
people issues, I thought – and this view was shared by many other students from
the sub-continent – that this is another “western” management concept, only
applicable within the confines of books and thesis. I was so wrong! It is the
people, who we will be dealing with all the moment, and our mutual perception
about each other will shape the business or the transaction between us. In the
IBE, all I learnt was about people. Business is almost the same, same GAAP
regulations, same frameworks, tools and techniques, same Microsoft office…but
its people why doing business in different corners of the world is so diverse
in nature, and that is why I don’t whinge much about the IST team not choosing
Norway, as Ireland had also been an equally enthralling learning. Actually in China , I learnt
from all people, from the chief of business houses to expatriates, from tour
guides to shop assistants – the tour was only seven days long but the impact
was immense. I wanted to share my experience in this report in detail, but that
would have been too irrelevant, so I have attached it as an annexure just to
glance through[5].
The key learning from the tour was that how easy it is to fall into the traps
of ‘Ladder of inference’[6] and ‘Preconceived notions’
and once fallen into such an impasse, how difficult it is to come out of it. On
the other hand, I realised how easy it is to build relationships, yet we try to
put everything into a framework; only to complicate the situation. From a
business management context, it is the understanding of the national cultures,
the concepts of Trompenaars’ model of universalism and particularism[7] etc. The foremost criteria
of running businesses is to understand the people involved with it, and to
understand the business context – without which, it is impossible to be
successful.
IBE helped me transform in many ways – not only did I become
more flexible regarding people issues, but also, in communicating, which will
relive the question on networking.
3.2
Networking
During the “Facing the future” meets, one group made a
number of spreadsheets on the Cranfield experience and one of the phrases was
rather comical – “Our networking is NOT WORKING”!I really found this to be
true. In the beginning of the MBA, we had gone through a Networking workshop,
which made, perfectly no sense to me. Although I came to Cranfield to change
myself and to broaden my perspective, I found it quite incomprehensible,
especially the concept of contacting unknown alumni to build rapport. Why would
an alumnus want to network with me, unless I had some specific questions
regarding his experience/job? I had been a strong supporter of tête-à-tête
communication – verbal or non-verbal, but in some specified context – not
randomly, just because I was have to.
During Term-2, we understood the importance of having
strong-ties and weak-ties, and the importance of each in our professional lives[8]. I used to have more
strong ties in my personal life and a few ones in the professional network. I
did have weak-ties mostly in the professional sphere, and they all came useful
in some way. On the first eve of the IBE, we had a networking event with
Rutgers business school students in Shanghai .
I truly believe that it was a waste of time and effort for me – one of the few
disappointments of the IBE. However, I did network with people when I attended
an MSI simulation with the Exec MBA students from an Austrian business school.
In future, I’ll be looking forward to such networking events with some common
purpose – the lack of purpose just kills the interest.
3.3
Learning from electives
After the struggle during part-1 regarding subject modules
and learning team meeting, part-2 has been a fresh breeze to me. The electives
were to be chosen by me, the study time, assignment preparations and everything
relevant to it. There are some of the modules worth mentioning-
3.3.1 Globalisation
GLB started from where we left completing the concepts of
micro- and macroeconomics in Part-1. The lectures were extremely engaging, the assignments
were even more interesting. It broadened the perspective on larger economic
issues concerning international trade and the covered a wide range of criteria
that sets the dynamics of globalisation. It also helped in another way –
removing the green blinkers from my eyes.
3.3.2 Sustainable
business
I wanted to mention this module as an eye-opener for me.
Before coming here I was quite naïve to believe that there are great companies
who values environment, society, diversity etc. I was also a member of
Greenpeace, believed to be the protector of earth’s environment. I was
convinced about it until Sean ‘The Sheriff’ Ricard[9] proved to the class that
companies do CSR to be more profitable in the long-run. I was not convinced
then, but thought it as an alternative motive. As we researched companies for
our assignments, I looked at the CSR initiatives and reports and all of Sean’s
words started to make sense. The sustainability reports often say “We are
passionate about society and sustainability”, yet none mentioned what loss they
undergone to sustain the CSR. There was not any answer, as the companies did
not incur any loss. I took a closer look at the policies during the SB sessions
and assignment, and it emerged that most of the initiatives involved cutting
cost, or improve quality for a premium price – as simple as that.
3.3.3 Managing
Strategic innovation
This elective was truly a great module, as this was only the
second module to involve a large number of guest speakers from the specialists
in their respective fields, in-class participation and a simulation. The
objective of the course was to enrich the student in identifying the
opportunities of innovation and convert raw ideas into well-documented business
plans. In the end of the programme, I can say that I have developed the
capabilities – although they were rooted within me from my innovation based
engineering background – to use them in future professional context.
3.3.4 Leadership
and Implementing change
It might appear that I am about to mention all my electives
here, but the account of learning will be incomplete if I do not mention these
two modules. Implementation change actually fitted between the leadership and
the OBPPD and PM modules we had in Part-1. The module was all about managing
people issues during change and crisis, the innate behavioural patterns of
humans.
The LS elective was one of the cornerstones of the MBA
curriculum, with the extent of focus in weaving the concepts of OB and PM to the context of management. However, the most
significant development point was the evening guest speaker sessions showcasing
the most accomplished leaders and setting new standards in managing the
business. I found three sessions extremely enriching, in terms of insight as
well as by the charisma of the speakers – Andy Bond of ASDA, Jackie Moore of
Deutsche Bank global HR operations, and Andrew Kakabadse. While Jackie
presented an extremely focussed view on leadership and being facilitating and
passionate, Andy showed how one can be successful separating personal and
professional lives – just by keeping things simple. I also agree with that
idea, that it is us, rather than the system that makes things complicated
leading to delay and error. From that day I adapted the good old KISS
philosophy – ‘Keeping It Short and Simple’.
3.4 Inspiration
from cohort
Starting from the pre-MBA phase, the interaction with the
cohort in a number of academic and recreational activities made me learn much
more than the casepack actually did. At the beginning of the curriculum, we
observed a lot the phrase “It’s your MBA”. Although it was clear that we were
required to be selective about the programme, at the end of the curriculum, it
appears that different people among the cohort actually did different MBA –
some spent the year at social clubs, some buried within books, some only
networking, but there were some people in our cohort who were the perfect
example of managing work and fun together. They ranked among the top-tier of
the students, yet could be seen in every social event, sporting meets, and
competitions – always in charge of their action. To name the top five people I
was inspired watching and working with during the MBA, I’d put the list as –
Nick White, Scott Riddle, Juan Leon, Wlad Silva, Jo Kelly and to some extent
Patricia Friedel. I did not interact with all of them with the same intensity;
yet, a close community as we were, words always spread almost instantaneously.
A small example about the different level of MBA was evident
from the students’ reaction about the careers service. Most of us only interacted
with them when they were to apply for a job or they were shortlisted for the
interview. Initially, at least in Term-1, I also shared this popular view,
which changed during the rest of the programme. Not only did I find them
extremely helpful, they also made every effort to meet the needs for every
single student who approached them for guidance. This takes us back to the
concept of preconceived notions and paradigm – without evaluating the truth, we
accept the prevalent opinions.
4. …and
forever
As promised in the introduction, this part will be used to
thread all the disjoint pieces of information I used in the previous sections
from my MBA experience, to put all points into perspective towards applying the
learning to enrich my life. Before arriving at Cranfield, my motive towards
doing an MBA was two-fold: to change my career in terms of role and geography;
and to understand the concepts of management well so the entire business, in
whichever sector I will be working, is well understood.
The MBA has been a life-changing opportunity for me – to
identify my strengths and develop skills that I need to develop in order to
make the transition from MBA to the professional career. However, I see the
learning from the programme to be perfect to apply in a much wider context – to
one’s entire life. It is not only the business situations where we face
dilemma, crisis, politics, change etc. – we face it every moment in our life in
different circumstances. The best example could be dawn from the book ‘The
Goal’ by Goldratt, where he used the same analytical skills to solve the
problem in his factory as well as resolve family tensions[10].
4.1 Skills
and ideas to take forward
Cranfield enriched me in many ways, and I was able to
develop a lot of skills here that I could not in my previous professional life.
To begin with, it will be the huge amount of academic exposure covering a wide
range of management knowledge – 30 casepacks weighing 70kgs is just a mere
quantitative measure of it.
[1] I
acknowledge, with gratitude, the contributions of many, from work and life, who
made the past year productive, enjoyable, although also suitably challenging.
My MBA cohort deserves special mention and I thank my Term-1 team members Matt
Kelly, Juan Leon, Daniel Martin, Pradeep Raman and Kundan Singh; my Term-2 team
members Gesu Baroova, Benito Giordano, Chioma Noel-Nwafor, tom Pitkethly and
Andy Proud. I thank especially my co-coach Simon Morhall for his empathetic
listening and timely feedback. I also thank David Grayson and Stephanie Hussels
for organising such a great IBE trip, which has been one of the cornerstones of
my MBA journey. I thank my fellow residents in Lanchester Hall for making my
evenings and weekends filled with fun with their youthful interjections. And
for other friends, in London
and halfway across the globe, words of thanks are perhaps not required…
[2] Appendix
1.1: Copy of the SOAR-1 executive summary
[3]
Appendix 1.2: Responses of the SOAR-1 development questionnaire (anon.)
[4]
Favourite quote of Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter’s best mate.
[5]
Appendix 1.3: Personal learning statement from the IBE report
[6]
Ladder reference
[7]
Trompenaars (1997)
[8] PM
article
[9]
The title was bestowed upon him during the press-conference, 2009
[10]
Goldratt, E (1984)
