By profession, I am an Information Technology (IT/ ICT) consultant. Exploring this field since 1991, I have worked for many organizations, in many countries and delivered many projects/programs/consulting assignments to date. My journey started from being a programmer/developer and gradually raised to various levels within the domain and now I am seen as a senior leader in IT. For the past 15 years and more my concentration has been in Project and Program Management. I lead and manage any and every kind of initiatives, irrespective of the domain. Some of the aspects in management that I enjoy are – Requirements management, Change management, Process management, and People management.

Have worked in 12 cities across 5 different countries during my career. These are exciting times having exposed to multi-cultural demographic, working with a fine group of people on interesting projects and initiatives across many organizations.

Values I live by

MBWA – Management by Walking Around:
Ever heard this term? I recently encountered it during my online reading, and it seemed very apt. This is what I have been doing so long. Being a senior leader, I never wanted to look distant, unapproachable and intimidating to my team members. If I build a solid fence around me, my team members won’t get to see me, exchange their views, learn from my ideas and I won’t get to understand them either. Connecting with the project team is a key success factor for delivering successful initiatives and for that I and my team need to be connected and engaged. And how do I get to it? Whenever I need to ask something or speak with someone or render help, I get up from my chair and walk over to the person, s/he be on the same floor or different or adjacent building.

It’s easy to pick up a phone and get the work done, but I choose to walk around and engage with my team. MBWA is an effective strategy for staying abreast of people’s work, pain points, ideas, views, and issues. Advantages of doing this are, I get to listen to others, I engage them in conversation and problem solving, I observe how they do things (recommend best practices if necessary), I get to appraise their work, recognize their efforts and reward them on the spot.

This act brings an open-door policy where I am seen as someone who can be freely approached and would care and listen. This act also instills ‘working with‘ than a ‘working for‘ style of engagement between me and my team. There’s a vast difference in saying s/he works with me than saying s/he works for me. The latter introduces an authority whereas the former a team player attitude.

Theory X and Theory Y:
I wanted to bring this up specifically to emphasize these management theories and the one I embrace. Most of us know the famous behavioral theory formulated by Douglas McGregor in 1960, called Theory X and Theory Y. This theory depicts two different views of individuals, one negative which is Theory X, and other positive Theory Y. Theory X encourages the use of tight control and supervision whereas Theory Y promotes a work environment by providing opportunities to team members to take initiative and self-direction. I have primarily embraced Theory Y as I strongly believe a manager is as good as his team is. If my team is motivated and engaged, they will perform efficiently allowing me to do better and deliver successful outcomes each and every time. Please note that sometimes a combination of both the theories is appropriate based on the situation, but the ratio is important.

Today, though I am a management professional, I mentor Business Analysts and likes. Share my knowledge and experiences with them regarding nature of clients, the impact of cultural changes while working in a different country, conflict resolution, business analysis best practices, industry standards, requirements gathering and elicitation techniques and much more. I listen to their issues, problems and try to resolve as much as possible.

Apart from my professional interests, I do possess a few interesting hobbies too. I love reading, I am a fine cook, amateur ++ photographer, a sketch artist, challenging carrom and table tennis player, a DIY guy, avid camper (tent, wood cabins, yurts, remote), love hiking and trails, a nature lover, and a blogger. You can read my blogs here or by clicking on the Blogs menu.

ranjit.tamhankar@gmail.com | +61 439 208 175