Feature Story

The Feature Story was contributed by Piyush Jain. Piyush heads Business Development at Blue Bytes.

The new buzz at Blue Lotus

IN THE month of October, we witnessed two events of significance at Blue Lotus. The first involved only a select few, getting together to take stock and plan further - the quarterly TLs’ offsite. The second was the most awaited half yearly ritual which concerns all of us - the Performance Appraisal.

We’ve all been through the grind involving Performance Appraisals, so I will not delve into that. The Team Leaders offsite, however, would be of interest to all those who were not a part of it. So here’s the inside story...

It’s definitely not all fun and games, as Umesh keeps reminding everyone, but a place where serious introspection takes place.

The TL offsite typically gets underway with Mouli outlining the company’s vision. Soumitro takes it a step further and grinds it into everyone, at the same time providing details on the progress made by Mustard and Blue Bytes. Darshan then reveals the quarter’s figures, which really don’t show us in a very good light. Then it’s the turn of the team leaders themselves. One by one each TL makes a detailed presentation stating his team’s performance, which is subjected to close scrutiny by others. By "others" I mean the "Council of Elders", who perform a role similar to that of the Board of Directors.

The previous TL offsite - my first - was all about setting targets and looking at ways and means to achieve them. This time it had more to do with how much of that target has been met. Unfortunately, as most of you would know, for the first time in our group’s history we had to revise our targets downwards. This however did not dampen anyone and each one was motivated enough to achieve more than what was set for them.

The team leaders spoke about the numbers they’ve achieved so far and outlined their plans to achieve the balance. Each one also presented a success story in the form of a case study. All of this was critically reviewed by those sitting in judgment over the presentation.

It’s a great platform to bounce your ideas off others. Since all teams are interdependent, the offsite presents an opportunity to voice your opinion regarding strengthening of the BL network, better coordination between team members, issues with critical hands etc. Individuals come up for reviews and informal votes are taken on the performance of the person concerned.

Standing up and presenting your team’s case in front of the "Council of Elders" can be fairly challenging. To ease the stress, evenings are given almost entirely to unwinding with a whisky and soda, a sprinkling of shaayari, and freewheeling banter.

A major highlight of the offsite was when all the TLs turned artists, and used their collective skills to create a single painting. All this under the watchful eyes of Bishi. The painting, a highly abstract piece, now occupies a place of pride in our fourth floor office. The last day was devoted to "leadership training" by an external faculty. All were required to undergo a leadership test, the results of which are not encouraging enough to share on a public platform.

After 3 days, the TLs are suitably motivated to take on the oncoming challenges. But the very first challenge immediately after the offsite is to get to office on time the following day.