Indore: Ex Chief Business Manager of SAIL Shiv Kumar shared his insights with the business leaders in a webinar organised by Indore Management Association’s Center of Excellence on the topic Management Lessons from Your Cup of Tea.
He said like Ice-cream needs to be consumed before it melts & Tea need to be consumed before it gets cold” a unit must understand the importance of suitable timing. Like one needs to strike the iron when it is hot to get the desired result the business entities can get the desired results even under the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Kumar started the session by stating that majorly the first drink of the day is a cup of tea across the world. It is among the first and foremost beverage offered in corporate meetings.
To start or to strengthen personal relations a cup of tea plays an important role. Over a cup of tea, lot of corporate decisions are taken. Day is planned over a cup of tea in office-industry.
Kumar, is presently President-Corporate Affairs & Business Development, Indore Steel & Iron Mills Ltd.
He drew parallels between the activities of a tea garden and management:
1. Plantation- Used to prepare plants to be planted in tea gardens. The soil of nursery is prepared to keep it free from diseases and with highest level of fertility. From the best mother plant carefully, strong saplings are selected and planted in the nursery under care and guidance of best planters. The saplings are looked after for a period of 12 to 15 months.
And once planted in the tea garden produces harvest of tea leaves for 50 to 70 years. Also supply of new plants to replace old non-productive plant and sick plant from the tea garden is ensured by the plantation managers and owners.
Management Lesson - Best team must be given the responsibility to select the strongest possible idea for implementation. The idea must be incubated under supervision and care of best brains of the organisation to study by best possible methods (AI, IOT) the pros & cons of the idea with a long-term vision. Streaming new ideas is a continuous process to replace old and non-profitable products, production process and launch new products. Keep ear to the ground and eye focused on the target. One should also keep one’s mind open to emerging opportunities while shelving the business line which has lost its utility.
2. Shifting the saplings to the tea garden: Time of incubation of the plants in the nursery (12 to 15 month) is used to improve and condition the soil of the garden to get best growth and productivity. Care us taken to keep it disease free for healthy growth of the plants.
Lesson of Management-Incubation period of the ideas is utilized to create infrastructure, installation of Plant & Equipment or upgrade the equipment/production lines, upgrading skills of the workers, new recruitment if required.
