The importance of 'care-fronting'

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

Business needs people who can confront people and situations with care. Yet B-schools don't teach this essential tenet

While recently attending an address by the visiting US Congressman Jay Inslee, my path crossed that of a friend, Aniru, one of the top stars of today's corporate world.

Aniru was clearly not in his element and, when I asked, he owned up to a problem at the workplace. Needless to say, it was an HR issue.

A young member of Aniru's team was fantastic in his job but had poor people skills. So Aniru was worried that this was vitiating the work atmosphere and affecting productivity. My friend has had a date with decision- making. What can I say? I can only wish Aniru the very best.

Then take Prashant, another "case" that comes to my mind when I think about the subject of what they don't teach you at B-school.

Prashant has been brilliant. Success came to him effortlessly, including a berth in the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and a job with the best consulting brand in the world.

Last year, Prashant plunged into the world of entrepreneurship. Today, he knows the worth of effort and scoffs at his former self.

In essence, I refer to what no business school can ever hope to teach. There are a million other things that they cannot teach for a number of reasons, such as the lack of time, competency, insight and mandate, and so on.

But business schools teach only a few things. It is unreasonable to expect them to teach anything more. They teach students the fundamentals of the core subjects that are required for participating in business management. Mind you, "participating" is the operative term. Just that "" not "create". Not even "drive". Just participate.

For starters, let's focus on the core issues that I have raised in the two cases cited above. The one thing that is common to them is people issues.

The most underestimated course while on campus is Organisational Behaviour ("OB" in campus parlance). If there is one area where every manager fails, it is in this area of organisational behaviour.

Take the first example. Aniru had always been a sincere contributor to his company's well-being besides being highly competent.

When he grew into the role of a team leader, the assumptions that he took along were critical "" that the people who reported to him would be reflections of his own competencies and personality.

He focused on the work and not on the people who were working under him until things went wrong at visible levels.

People under him needed attention, encouragement, a bit of censure when they did not try hard enough and confrontation when an unhealthy thing or two was done. That's right: confrontation. That is not ever taught in any business school. You will not find it in any best-seller either.

Those who have no option do it for the first time. And when it is done authentically, they become more effective on the job.

Then take the second example. What Prashant experienced was another kind of confrontation: dealing with the reality that entrepreneurship is not about fancy PowerPoint presentations.

He confronted a reality called cash flow. No longer did he have an office car waiting for him at the airport. He had to stay at a friend's den when he visited Delhi as an entrepreneur instead of in a five-star.

The reality was that so far, he had been basking in the reflected glory of a global brand. But the fact was that his own name had no brand value. He has just begun to learn this.

Today, he reaches his meetings on time as well. Prashant is confronting himself "" and he has grown immensely since.

I prefer to use the word "care-fronting" instead of "confronting". When you look around at problems, you will find that it invariably involves people. And confrontation with people without enough care is counter-productive. Confrontation with oneself is no different.

Ask yourself: have you already learnt the art of confronting with care? If you have, you are already an effective manager. For sure, this may well have been something that you were not taught at any business school.

Satya Naryanan belongs to the 1993 batch of IIM, Bangalore and is founder-chairman of Career Launcher, which he founded in 1996.