Sachin & Pranab Da did not impress...

Last week two news items that created headlines - 'The Union Budget' and 'Tendulkar's 100th ton', both failed to impress. Congress fresh from its drubbing in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and Indian cricket team still nursing its wounds from the recently concluded Australian tour, both needed to deliver much more than ordinary to impress. Both however disappointed... Tendulkar's 100th ton came after a wait of 33 innings since his 99th century; too long a wait... made it look like a milestone reached with stone tied to back. The final blow was delivered by Indian team, the world champions, losing the same match to the Bangladesh rookies. Pranab da's budget was unimpressive and cautious. His Shakespearean quote - I have to be cruel, only to be kind' appeared a mere rhetoric. The service class Indian has no respite with high income tax, higher service tax, lower PF interest rates and costlier goods. And despite paying so many taxes we have bad roads, no social security and high corruption as returns.


In the end the question is what do we set as a performance measure, many a times makes a performance relevant or irrelevant. In case of Tendulkar winning matches and not record stats should have been the target, and, for Pranabda realistic benefits to the larger population should have been the target rather than painting a self-acclaimed masterpiece to impress privileged few.

Organizations should remember that setting right performance measures is key to high performance and engagement. Recently ICICI Pru under pressure of poor & cautious market sentiments and depleting levels of trust amongst customers for insurance products, the company changed its performance measures for its employees. Alongwith the usual rating of 1 to 5 that shows what has been achieved, the company added another rating of A to C that showed how a target has been achieved. ICICI Pru for instance laid a lot of emphasis on no mis-selling, even if it meant longer time to persuade a customer. With the new ratings in place, it is now possible for ratings to be like 5A, 5B or 5C...the person who gets 5A performs better than the other two simply because he/she has achieved the target in the right way.

Sachin and Pranab Da are both seasoned players but perhaps both of them need better direction...In the words of Tendulkar after he scored his milestone 100, he said that sometimes he felt that if someone was there to guide him...