The Enablers Volume II, Issue X, April 2012 - The Interviewing Process - I

14^th April 2012

Dear Friends,

I welcome you to Volume II, Issue X, 14^th April 2012 of ‘The Enablers’.

This issue is the first part of a trilogy of articles on interviews.

The first part deals on how you should conduct interviews during appraisal sessions, counseling sessions and post-joint field work interviews.

The second part in May 2012 will deal how to conduct job interviews.

The third part in June 2012 is when you will be on the other side of the table - for being evaluated and interviewed for higher responsibilities in your organization.

Please let me  have your views on this article.

Warm regards,

Vivek Hattangadi  

Editor 

vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

What is an interview?

An interview is a face to face conversation between two people, the interviewer and the interviewee. Questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee or the interviewee is asked to encourage asking questions. There are many types of interviews and few are being discussed in this issue. 

First let us understand what is counseling. Counseling means listening to others to help resolve problems and conflicts. During a counseling session, the medical representative for instance will learn from his first-line manager (FLM) how to formulate new ways of behaving, feeling, and thinking. Conflicts and problems generally occur when there is a variation in the standards of behavior. The FLM has to ensure that the standards of behavior are known to the medical representative. Then he has to find out why these standards set are not being met.

When conducting a counseling session, there are some principles you should follow in order to minimize the potential conflict. Firstly, you should not view the session as an opportunity to scold the employee or as a means to threaten the employee with disciplinary action. The purpose of a counseling interview is not to punish or reprimand the medical representative, but to ascertain the cause of the circumstances about which you are concerned. Counseling should be viewed as a problem-solving exercise. For example: If the medical representative has been tardy in reporting at contact points during joint field work, what prevents him from arriving on time? How can the medical representative remedy the problem? In this respect, it is the FLMs job to set the tone of the meeting, putting the medical representative at ease as much as possible.

Do your homework well before a counseling interview and conduct it in private. Never schedule a counseling interview when you are busy. Find time when you will be able to give him 100% attention. After the salutations, be direct and candid. Explain the exact nature of your concern, making clear what has been observed and why it is important. Some medical representatives may be hostile. In those cases, you should remain calm, speaking in a measured voice. Because someone yells at you, it does not mean that you must yell back. At the conclusion of the counseling interview, thank him for seeing you and extend yourself to him should further problems of this nature arise. If you intend to confirm the discussions in writing, inform him.

Performance appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of medical representatives. It is to make him understand his abilities for further growth and development. Performance appraisal is generally done in systematic ways which are as follows:

·         The FLM measures the performance and compare it with targets and plans.

·         The FLM analyses the factors behind work performances of employees.

The FLM should be in a position to guide the medical representative for a better performance. Performance appraisal interview is the first stage of the performance appraisal process and involves the medical representative and his FLM sitting face to face to discuss threadbare all aspects of the medical representative’s performance. The FLM should thrash out any differences in perception or evaluation. The performance appraisal interview provides the FLM with a chance to defend himself against poor evaluation by the FLM and also gives the FLM a chance to explain what he or she thinks about the employee’s performance.

The performance appraisal interview must be taken seriously. Both the medical representative and the FLM must set aside time to go through the process. The FLM must not arbitrarily change the time or the venue and must not approach the interview in a haphazard manner. Despite all these norms being set, it is often the FLM has to be reminded about the interview and then he hurriedly arranges the meeting. This is definitely the wrong way to approach the interview. Further, the FLM must make the time to go through the medical representative’s self evaluation and rate the same objectively.

In the Indian pharma industry, it is estimated that 70% of the employees who leave organizations cite the unsatisfactory appraisal rating as the reason for quitting. They often voice their disappointment at the process during the exit interview. Since the career progression of employees depends on the ratings that they get, the whole process must be taken seriously by all.

Since the main role of a FLM is to develop the people who report to him, post joint-field work interviews should be used a platform to develop people. Catch people doing right! Instead of finding faults and mistakes, after every joint call, ask the medical representative himself to evaluate his performance during the call. 99 out of 100 times, the medical representative himself will acknowledge the weakness in the call. Agree with these weaknesses and show him how to correct. If necessary, have a role play session to help him determine the changes he will bring about in himself.  Set SMART goals after every joint field work and follow-through on these goals.

At regular intervals, say every three months, ask him to do a SWOT Analysis (please refer Issue IX Vol. II March 2012 of ‘The Enablers’) about himself. Help him to strengthen his strengths or help him convert weaknesses into strengths.

Take all these three kinds of interviews very seriously.  

The Enablers - Volume II, Issue IX, March 2012 - SWOT Analysis

Dear Friends,

I take pleasure in presenting Vol. II, Issue IX of March 2012 of The Enablers’.

This monthly e-publication, ‘The Enablers’ as you all know is to help first-line managers from the pharma industry to develop themselves. Your personal development will give me tremendous happiness so that you can take the Indian pharma industry to the next level – free from corrupt practises which are prevalent today.

However, this requires planning. Personal development planning for first-line managers is not only about the learning that has already taken place, but also planning for the future. 

In this issue, we discuss SWOT Analysis which is a great yet simple tool for analyzing the internal and external factors that can impact your professional or personal life. SWOT analysis is based on the evaluation of an individual’s current status (internal environment) as well as on the evaluation of the factors outside the individual (external environment).

Please do let us have your comments on this issue.

For back issues, please do visit http://theenablers newsletter.blogspot.com

Warm regards,

Vivek Hattangadi - Editor 

Tel: 9376100041

vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

SWOT Analysis – A Self-Development Tool for First-Line Managers

When I started my career as a medical representative I was overawed by my trainer’s knowledge and oratory. I wanted to be like him and started imitating him. But that did not address my weaknesses till one day in a developmental program I attended, I was exposed to SWOT Analysis. Since then, I have used this tool to develop my skills. This has really helped me in coming up the career ladder. SWOT is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The simple technique was developed by Prof.  Albert Humphrey of Stanford University.⁽¹⁾

SWOT Analysis is a very simple planning tool which is used to understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in an organization, a brand or even an individual.⁽²⁾

It can be used as framework for organizing and using data and information gained from situation analysis of internal and external environment. This is a technique that can enable a first-line manager to look at everyday problems in a fresh perspective.

Strengths Strengths are the characteristics of the individual, a brand, or an organization that give an advantage over others in the field. These are the positive tangible and intangible attributes, internal to the individual or organization. For example for a first-line manager, they are the beneficial aspects of his capabilities, like his competencies, resources, education, communication or many more. It could also be sound technical knowledge, superior management talent, better marketing skills, strong strategy execution skills, and a team of committed medical representatives.

Weaknesses Weaknesses are the characteristics that place the brand, an organization or even an individual at a disadvantage relative to others. Weaknesses can detract the first-line manager from his ability to attain the core goal and influence his own career growth. Weaknesses are the factors which do not meet the standards we feel we should meet. For a first-line manager for example, it could mean his inability to retain a good strong team, continuing with out-of-date management skills, weak market image, limited communication skills, and a set of under-trained medical representatives. Nevertheless, weaknesses are controllable. They must be minimized and eliminated. another alternate is to strengthen the strengths so that the weaknesses become irrelevant!

Opportunities Opportunities are the chances to gain in the environment. They are the external attractive factors that represent the reason for a first-line manager to develop and grow. Opportunities arise when a first-line manager can take benefit of conditions in its environment to plan and execute strategies that enable make his organization more profitable. He should be alert and recognize the opportunities and grasp them whenever they arise. Opportunities may arise from market, competition, and training. Examples of opportunities can be working for a start-up organization, rapid market growth, complacent peers, economic boom, and many more.

Threats Threats are the external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the first-line manager which are beyond his control, which could place his development and progress at risk. Threats arise when conditions in external environment jeopardize the first-line manager. They compound the dangers when they relate to the weaknesses. Threats are uncontrollable. When a threat comes, the stability and survival can be at stake. Examples of threats could be because of recessionary trends, merger or acquisition of his organization or more competent peers.

Strengths and opportunities are helpful while weaknesses and threats are harmful.

As I did, every first-line manager should do an honest and regular SWOT Analysis of himself. This will help you to analyze the reasons for your success or failure.  Perform a SWOT Analysis and document it. Carry your findings forward - make sure that the SWOT analysis is used in planning your own development. Revisit your findings at suitable time intervals.

Good luck!

 References

1.       http://www.mindtools.com /newTMC_05.htm

2.       Ansoff, H.I. (1987), Corporate Strategy, revised edition, Penguin Books.

The Enablers Vol. II, Issue VIII - Silent Treatment

The Silent Treatment – Say Everything without Saying Anything

Many, many years ago when I was a child of about ten, I did something which was contrary to my mother’s instructions. I was expecting a sound thrashing or verbal volley of words. No, that did not happen. My mother just ignored me. For a while thought I thought I am saved and I was internally happy. But she ignored me the whole day. I became a bit restless. The next day to she did not speak to me for the entire day and I was really worked up. The next day too, she ignored me. Her silence was deadly. I could not bear it any more. I broke down and pleaded to her to speak to me. She turned a deaf ear. That evening was unbearable. At last I hugged her and started crying. And that was when she took me near gave loving strokes on my hair. I felt relieved and even before she said anything I apologised.

The power of ‘silent treatment’ was loudly visible. Her silent treatment hurt me more than her anger.   

Silent treatment is a punishment to make you feel unimportant, not valued, not cared about and completely absent from the givers thoughts. It is used as a form of non-physical punishment and control. Nobody wants to be shut out, ignored, excluded or rejected. The giver remains aloof, refuses to speak and is usually used as an expression of anger or disapproval.

Should we use this silent treatment when we want to admonish or express anger over some wrong act of your subordinate? It is very passive aggressive behaviour and hurts the other person sharply. It can hurt more than anything else you could ever do. Such behaviour can have a very strong impact on others. When you apply this, you are banishing your medical representative from the existence without the benefit of closure or a good bye or a chance at reconciliation. It can hurt him badly.

The silent treatment communicates negative feelings even more effectively, at times, than a tongue-lashing does ⁽¹⁾. 

The first thing a FLM should to a medical representative before playing the silent treatment is say a good word. Do not display any type of body language which shows anger. Have your last say and laugh, then play the silent treatment. It will leave him stoned and wondering. Before you plot the ignoring revenge say: "Well, I know you are disturbed and why you did it. I shall over look this and speak to you later," and the next time you see him, ignore them, play the treatment, and then ignore him for a few weeks.

Do not attend his calls on the mobile. Cut off all communication, contact, and access. Even block his e-mails. This shows you do not want him.  By cursing them out and bullying them, it shows negative attention, which is not as effective as the silent treatment. If you see him, walk by and pretend like he does not exist. Turn you head slightly when you see him. Tell your immediate bosses to ignore him too; harsh words and threats can lead to trouble.

If you see them, look away. Avoid him by speaking to some other person. Sit away from him if you are in a cycle briefing meeting or any conference. Show him that you don't need him and go on as usual as if he does not exist.

This is the greatest revenge, although it can emotionally hurt you. Though your silent treatment, let him know how much it hurt you when he did whatever he did.

The anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain that detects emotional pain. Research indicates the anterior cingulate cortex can be active even when a person is not aware of his errors. Nevertheless, awareness might increase activation ⁽²⁾. Specifically, when individuals are aware of their errors, the error-related negativity might be higher in amplitude. When you give someone the silent treatment you are activating his cingulate cortex giving him sleepless nights. Simply by ignoring his existence you can inflict pain on him.

By now he will get your message. Make peace with him eventually. When you see him four to six weeks later, it's probably time to excuse him for the act.

The silent treatment can be a very destructive so be careful when you apply it.

From the silent treatment I was given by my mother, I believe a medical representative would much rather prefer getting shouted at than ignored. Purposeful silence is truly one of the impactful methods of severe admonishment. In fact, it is considered to be one of the harshest methods of punishment.

References:

1.     Pygmalion in Management By J. Sterling Livingston.  Harvard Business Review,   July‑August 1969, pp. 81‑89.

2.     Luu, P., & Pederson, S. M. (2004). The anterior cingulate cortex: Regulating actions in context. In M. I. Posner (Ed.), Cognitive neuroscience of attention. New York: Guilford Pres

Vivek Hattangadi

vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

www.theenanbler.org

The Enablers Vol. II Issue VII, January 2012 - An Obituary to the Doyen of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

Dear Friends,

The last of week of December 2011 and the beginning of 2012 saw two tragic episodes in my life.

My dear sister passed away at a young age of 56 under very heartbreaking circumstances; the side-effects of drugs.

Before even recovering from this shock, another tragedy struck: I lost my Guru, and the doyen of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, Prof. Chitta Mitra.

Volume II, Issue VII of ‘The Enablers’ is an obituary to this towering personality.

In his memory, I have evolved the “Prof. Chitta Mitra Oath” which should taken by those desirous of entering the field of pharmaceutical marketing profession and also by those veterans who are already in this profession. This oath is based on the Hippocratic Oath taken by the doctors before they start their practise.

In a management development program I conducted recently at Delhi, all the participants swore by this oath. 

Vivek Hattangadi

22^nd January 2012 

An Obituary to the Doyen of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

Prof. Chitta Mitra, the doyen of the Indian pharmaceutical industry breathed his last on the morning of 3^rd January 2012. It is a great loss to the industry in general and a personal loss to me. Two personal losses within a span of ten days!  

The growth of the pharma industry we see today can be greatly attributed to Prof. Mitra. Since the 1980’s, he took upon himself the responsibility of bringing a paradigm shift in the mindsets of the marketers in the Indian pharma industry – from sales orientation to prescription generation. His oft quoted and famous pearls of wisdom to the pharma marketers still reverberate: “The health of a pharma company is related to the prescriptions that the company is able to generate – not just volume sales.” His emphasis was on prescription generation and looked down on deals, bonus offers as an unhealthy practice and effort to ‘steal’ prescriptions of another company.

He and his dedicated team of analysts and researchers have analyzed over 100 million live prescriptions of doctors and it is from the analysis of prescriptions that his gems of wisdom emerge.

 

Prof Mitra was a strong believer in developing and training people in the pharma industry. He initiated training and development of brand managers to make them understand and interpret the data provided by C MARC, collated from live prescriptions from the twenty different specialties of doctors.

He helped the brand managers to take strategic decisions for strengthening the marketing edge over the competitors. He taught them how to evaluate and do a SWOT of an organization to provide appropriate strategic guidelines to the brand managers.

He developed newer methods of analytical methods to strategize a plan for creating a marketing edge over the competitor. He helped in distinguishing between qualitative data and quantitative data and to correlate with internal sales.

The CRM activities which are widely prevalent were termed by him as ‘customer gratification’ and have nothing to do with the health of a pharma company. He believed in the honest brand building activities which were prevalent till the middle of the last decade. Things took a turn for the worse.

In his memory I have evolved the “Prof. Chita Mitra’s Oath for Pharma Marketers” which is inspired by the Hippocratic Oath taken by the medical professionals when they graduate. Every person starting his/her career in the pharma industry should take “Prof. Chita Mitra’s Oath”. Even the experienced and veterans should take this oath and cleanse this pharma industry from unhealthy and corrupt practices.

I give the oath below and have sworn by this oath.

 

The Prof. Chitta Mitra Oath (The Indian pharmaceutical industry oath to cleanse the industry of corrupt marketing practises) I swear by Prof. Chitta Mitra, in the presence of God the Almighty, and before my family, my teachers and my peers that according to the best of my ability and judgment I will keep this oath and stipulation. To reckon all who have taught me and made me take up this career in pharmaceutical marketing, I shall, to the best of my ability, carry forward the great marketing skills pursued by the esteemed and sincere marketers. I will continue with diligence to keep abreast of advances in the science of pharmaceutical marketing. I shall hone up my skills in to get prescriptions only through ethical means. I will seek the counsel of particularly skilled and honest pharmaceutical marketers, when in doubt, whether a particular marketing strategy is ethical or not. I will follow only those methods of pharmaceutical selling which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of the end-users, the good health of patients; and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous. I will neither indulge in, nor be a party to any activity which is lethal to the high standards of ethical marketing. With purity, holiness and beneficence I will pass my life and practice my art of pharmaceutical marketing and selling. Except for the prudent correction of an imminent danger, I will neither incite, encourage nor suggest to the medical professionals to carry out any research of my products on any human being who is unable to understand what he / she is doing - like the mentally challenged or the schizophrenia patients. I swear that I understand that research on new and existing drugs must have as its purpose for the furtherance of the health of that individual and not the commercial benefits of my company. Into whatever patient setting I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief or corruption and further from the seduction of any patient for clinical trials. Whatever be the compulsions, I shall neither invite medical professionals for holidays or cruises, lunches or dinners, which may be deemed as a corrupt practise; to unduly influence the medical professionals to prescribe my medicine. Neither shall I give them those gifts which are not relevant and appear to be a bribe or a corrupt practise. I shall neither market irrational fixed dose combinations of drugs, although I may stand to benefit commercially. Whatever in connection with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear from my customers whom ought not to be spoken abroad, I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this ‘The Prof. Chitta Mitra Oath’ inviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art and science of pharmaceutical marketing with the blessing of God, the Almighty and respected by my peers and society, but should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse by my lot. This is based on the Hippocratic Oath taken by the doctors when they enter practice. This is to immortalize Prof. Chitta Mitra. Prepared by Vivek Hattangadi: www.theenablers.org Author: “WHAT THE PHARMA CEO WANTS FROM THE BRAND MANAGER”

The Enablers, Vol II, Issue VI, December 2011 - Learn about the three principles that always drove Apple!

Dear Friends,

Steve Jobs is no more. Long live Steve Jobs.  Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then led a cultural transformation in the way music, movies and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, passed away on 5^th October 2011.

His authorised biography released a little later, on 25th October 2011, biography doesn't hide the Apple CEO's shortcomings.

We can learn so much from this great man.

Volume II, Issue VI of December 2011 is a tribute to this great personality. We will see how the principles applied to Apple can influence us to become more effective first-line managers.

Vivek Hattangadi

9376100041

A tribute to Steve Jobs: What can we learn from him?                       Learn about the three principles that always drove Apple!

I am currently reading 'Steve Jobs', the authentic biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. 

The three principles of Apple as told to his biographer Walter Isaacson and which have created a great impact in my mind, which I desire to share with you are: 

·         Empathy

·         Focus

·         Impute

Walter Isaacson in ‘Steve Jobs’ writes on page 78:

“Steve Jobs wrote his principles in a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy” that stressed three points. The first was empathy, an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer: “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.” The second was focus: “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.” The third and equally important principle, awkwardly named, was impute. It emphasized that people form an opinion about a company or product based on the signals that it conveys. “People DO judge a book by its cover,” he wrote. “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.”

Let us dwell on these principles.

Empathy: Empathy is about understanding people. Empathy and sympathy are not synonyms, they have different connotations. In sympathy, we feel sorry for a person. For example, when a friend of yours loses his job, we have ‘sympathy’ for the friend because we perceive the distress of the friend.  When we have ‘empathy’ for the friend we go into a similar emotional state of the friend if we accurately perceive the friend’s situation or predicament. Empathy is identifying ourselves with and understanding the situation, feelings and motives of the other person.  It is our ability to not only know or detect what others are feeling, but to also experience that emotion ourselves. It is about empathy with the customer – both internal i.e. our medical representatives and the external customers – the doctors and the retailers. In all our interactions, we need to have empathy with our medical representatives if we have to establish our leadership. Emotional Intelligence is a pre-requisite for effective leadership.

   

Focus means to eliminate the many unimportant things, so as to do a good job of the important things. It means we need to understand our priorities and focus on important issues rather than end up doing a ‘fire-fighting’ job when the important tasks become urgent. Learning to prioritize and then focussing on the most important issues is a skill which we must all develop. In the Mahabharata, when Dronacharya was testing the shooting skills of his pupils, all could see the beautiful leaves and flowers on the trees, the blue sky and so on. On the other hand, Arjuna could see only the eye of the bird – he was focussed! That is the kind of focus we all need to develop in our activities.

    

Impute literally means to relate to a particular cause or source; attribute the fault or responsibility to the actual cause (for e.g. imputed the rocket failure to a faulty gasket). Our doctors and retailers form an opinion about a company or product based on the signals that that they receive from us during our interaction.  “People do judge a book by its cover”.  We may have the best of the products and of the highest quality. However, if we present our products to the doctors in a slipshod manner, our products may be perceived by the doctors as slipshod. If we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

Therefore, we the first-line managers need to empathize with the medical representatives, and focus on their development so that we impute their growth to our leadership skills.

Good luck!

WHAT THE PHARMA CEO WANTS FROM THE BRAND MANAGER

This first book on pharma brand management and that to by an Indian has received rave reviews from readers. Here is what Dr. Ulhas Ganu, a senior pharma leader says: “The book is excellent. An introduction to almost every relevant topic, from Brand Name to Budgeting, crisp descriptions, relevant case studies (to India), tables to highlight salient points. Apart from a good guide to a brand manager, it is also of use to every sales person reminding / modulating him to appreciate the importance of being a party to develop a brand & add value.

I liked the book and appreciate the process of getting it as well. I must tell you, I ordered through Flipkart on 10th Nov afternoon & got the book delivered in Mumbai by 3.00pm on 12th, i.e. today. A very quick service indeed. Above all, e mail communication was prompt right from booking to delivery & after delivery. Great communication & service....

I would recommend the book to every member in Product Management as it tells you what many of your colleagues may not tell (as they may see you as a competitor that is what the industry is anyway...)”.

This book, till 31st December 2011 will be available on Flipkart at a discount of 20% - just Rs. 216/ against the actual price of Rs.295/. Please log on to:  

http://www.flipkart.com/books/8100011271?_l=BeFSI0lZqBC4MJ94PL7coA--&_r=9rerN7IHjema_qRtgneG8Q--&ref=99ce4ad5-4920-4aa9-b0c2-13b11626820b.

For more details, please do visit www.theenablers.org