A TRAVELER'S THOUGHT

“Travel opens your heart, broadens your mind and fills your life with stories to tell.”- Paula Bendfeldt

In the past one month, I did two Bangalore- Chennai trips by car and was particularly drawn towards analyzing my own planning & execution of the drive, especially the return journey.

Both the times I happened to start late from Chennai but had to target reaching home in Bangalore on time, for my son to have a good night’s sleep before school next day. There are also two incredibly horrible stretches to be crossed to reach home; the stuff nightmares are made up of. This was the situation:

Starting from Chennai at 1:30 PM, the GPS predicted me reaching home by 8:00 PM (6 ½ hours). I wanted to cross a specific junction by 6:30 PM which would give me a fighting chance of reaching home on or before 8:30 PM. This is what I did:

I switched off the GPS, put on my most favorite music, and just concentrated on the drive. Enroute , I did only three time checks at my predetermined milestone  points. The trip turned out to be enjoyable and I had had quality time discussing on a wide range of topics with my wife and 11 year old son. This was the result both times:

I crossed the junction by around 5:45 PM and was home by 7:00 PM. Even with the most fickle Bangalore traffic, I gained 90 minutes in a non-tiring journey. 

Now back in office, I am able to draw some parallels from the drive to the project meetings & reviews that we normally have in office.

• Reviews where presentation packs and charts take ages to prepare and explain, even becoming more important than the project itself.
• Meetings happening too frequently that actually distract us from our tasks and make us even more fearful of missing the targets.

What I think based on my travel plan execution:

1. I set my review points beforehand itself. The checks were few and only at those logical points in the journey that were essential & relevant.
2. While driving, I did not focus on the GPS (data) all the time and focused more on driving safe, steady and fast.
3. I ensured that my team (wife and son in this case) were comfortable and engaged all the time; we all drawing energy from each other.
4. Music helped. It kept me calm, cheerful & engaged and kept the mood in the car light too.
5. A well serviced car helped too. Sturdy, responsive machine ensured no distractions from extraneous factors.
6. Even with unforeseen adverse situations popping up, I always had a very good chance of overachieving on my targets as the focus was straight and simple.

The drive story is metaphorical in content, but I believe has some nuances that can be practically applied to our office situations. Some check-points for Project Managers:

1. Keep the reviews only at logical milestone points and keep it few. Focus on power-execution, not power-points.
2. Ensure that the team is otherwise focused only on the tasks to be completed.
3. Keep the atmosphere clean, light, ownership-driven and engaged.
4. Ensure that meetings primarily addresses a primary question “Are we winning or losing?” rest all are fillers.
5. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Execution defines true leadership.

The views expressed here are entirely my own and may not necessarily be the views of company I work for, past or present. Anil Padmanabhan