what worked for AAP and how you can apply it

AAP corrected its mistakes and marched to victory in Delhi state elections 2015

Let us analyze what worked for AAP and how you can apply it in your own organisation.

Own it up: In many interviews Arvind Kejriwal admitted that quitting was his biggest mistake and he would never repeat it. They accepted the fact that they had failed people, and asked for another chance. It often leads to positive results when people own up to their mistakes instead of trying to brush it under the carpet.  Owning up your mistakes often projects the fact that you are vulnerable like others in your organization and not trying to project an aura of invincibility.

Don’t party for too long: Once BJP came to power at the Center, they had multiple chances at their disposal to prove themselves. They had eight months to work and show good results which were mostly wasted in building good PR with other countries while they ignored their own countrymen. This is akin to several Kickstarter campaigns which in their early days try to focus on their media exposure telling the world that they have arrived while ignoring to work on their product.

Get horses for the courses: Hiring a young flash in the pan dynamic inexperienced associate is one of the mistakes a organization can do. During war, there is no luxury of time. And a person who has not fought a war before in unaware of its complexities, so its important that you have a person who is experienced, seen & overcome challenges from many fields and knows what & how to do. When Apple Computers was going through a crisis in 1997, they went back to hire Steve Jobs whom they knew could handle the situation better than most people could because he understood the DNA of the business better than anyone else. So hire a person who has fought a war and knows what it takes to win.

Vision and Direction: Not releasing a manifesto projected an image that BJP does not have a clear plan for Delhi and would not even know what to do once it came to power. On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal in his manifesto spoke about things like women safety, which matters to people. He promised to deliver a product which is in popular demand while in BJP people did not have any idea of the product they were working on. This situation led to poor execution and low morale in the team as they did not have a cause to believe in.

Language of the people: One of the most important traits of Arvind Kejriwal is that he does not look like a politician and speaks the language of the masses. He talks in a language which people understand and can easily respond to. He is easily accessible and responds to most queries, while his counterparts in the BJP were always on a high horse. They always lacked time and evaded hard questions. So communicate in the language which the employees understand & relate to.

Research: The biggest strength of Arvind Kejriwal is his impeccable research. He always has his data within his reach and comes up with convincing answers to every question asked. This also leads to better decision making and also gives an impression of being someone who knows what he is talking about. Once you have your numbers at hand, you can answer anyone be it your investor or your customer.