Sushi vs Biryani - A non-food perspective

Sushi vs Biryani - A non-food perspective

Authored by Ruknudin Abdulla

Attention to all foodies, this article has nothing to do with food and cravings. During one of my recent meetings with the leadership of a large private financial service provider in Qatar, he sparked me to pen down this way of management thoughts.

He went on explaining the difference in preparing Biriyani and Sushi. Like in cooking, all business functions have a logical work sequence. In some cases, when you omit a step, you can always fix it in whatever phase of the process you are in, just like adding salt or few ingredients into Biriyani. Whereas in some process, if you skipped a logical step the only way is to redo it like sushi.

This is one of the areas now companies need to invest in; developing and documenting Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) or Work Description Manual for business functions. This would help the employees understand the business functions and tasks in a systematic order and put them into practices; creating a direct & productivity impact on output and outcome.

Consider this, if an employee is given the opportunity to perform a business function in their own way or with limited guidelines what would happen? Mostly it would effect on the sustainability and businesses will eventually struggle with consistency and easy flow of knowledge transfer.

In today’s complex situation and competitive business environment the management should take measures to achieve efficiency and consistency for progressive survival. If your methods of statements are still in air and mind, please take time to document them and inform your stakeholders. Once implemented them rightly, there shall be a definite increase in overall performance and stakeholder satisfaction; that too qualitative and measurable.

Often being inside the system, sometimes it would be difficult to realize what areas do require improvement, and they would know the problems and solutions to overcome it, but in most cases ignore the root causes.

Both Sushi and Biriyani has its own audience, but sustainable only when it becomes consistent, warm and of course delicious. Like we enjoy what we eat, let’s create an environment of passion to enjoy the work too.