Peter Drucker once said that, “for-profit” organizations have much more to learn from the not-for-profit organizations, than the other way round. As I look at the many organizations that I admire, the one name that jumps out consistently is that of the Missionaries of Charity. It is not because they are a bunch of do-gooders who tug at my heart as I suffer from middle-class altruism and subdued guilt.

I admire the Missionaries of Charity simply because of the way they are managed. Some of the practices they have developed would put them as best-in-class if we were to benchmark with some of the best run enterprises in the world.

Started with a grant of Rs. 25 to Mother Teresa by the Archbishop of Calcutta, the Missionaries of Charity is one of the earliest, most successful and rare multi-nationals out of India. It runs its homes in 133 countries around the world! No Indian organization matches that, even the Government of India has missions in less number of countries. Why should that be such a big deal?

Consider this: every single person there is completely on-line with the organisation’s  vision, values and standard operating procedure. Yet, they do not have a digital intranet that downloads policy and dishes out FAQs.

They run an extremely efficient funding, supply chain, recruitment, training and skill development system without a computer --  to talk about an Enterprise Resource Package. Yet, they never run out of their essential supplies needed to feed the poor and the uncared for.  They have to coordinate with dozens of other agencies from local municipalities to customs, from schools to hospitals on issues of cooperation and compliance.

I once asked a diminutive, frail sister as to why they do not use a computer and she promptly chastised me.  “We cannot have a computer here, we work with the poor”.

I showed her the ancient looking black, rotary telephone instrument on the table and she dismissed me saying, “Oh, they are not scared of the telephone; they (the) poor are used to it”.

No arguments with that. Now imagine running a 24*7 organization in 133 countries and more than five thousand nuns with just a telephone?

Talking of the more than five thousand nuns, once in every three years, they are transferred from one location to the other. The location of service is not known to a nun until twenty-four hours before her movement. Imagine the level of sophistication a human resource organisation needs to manage such a level of rotation.  What makes the rotation non-trivial is the need to match a nun with a skill and a location based need. Some places may have a children’s home that require training in handling new born babies and another place for the dying and the destitute may need knowledge of geriatric care and yet someplace else, there may be a home for the AIDS inflicted who need very different handing.

The Missionaries of Charity has a well-managed multi-skilling program in place that plans ahead for “specialization” of the nuns. A nun, who is specialized in geriatric care, gets rotated to a home for babies or AIDS patients as her next. Each “assignment”, requires very different handling with associated complexities – from skills needed to the kind of inventory you must carry so as to serve the needs of the place.

What fascinates me is another spectacular management practice. A sister superior of one location may serve as an ordinary nun in her next, often serving under someone who is way junior to her! This enables the organisation to look at a hierarchy free state in which service is more important than a rank and no position is an entitlement; more interestingly, no one becomes redundant becomes everyone is hands-on.

Once I was chatting with a sister who was going to attend a course in ‘fashion design” – she had just come after after wiping the bottoms of two dozen babies, bathing and feeding them.

“You are talking about tailoring, aren’t you?” I asked her. In a place like Cochin, a little embellishment is probably okay.

“No, no. It is fashion design. These days, no one wants tailoring anymore”, she replied.

This is a home for babies and every now and then an unwed mother leaves a baby or mother and baby turn themselves in.  So, it is not enough to take the baby in their arms, the sisters sometimes have to rehabilitate the unwed mother by teaching her new skills so that she is economically independent, does not fall prey to or willingly become a victim. t So, here was our sister being sent for what she called a “train-the –trainers program”.  Now that is what I call, Anticipative Management.

The Missionaries of Charity is a 24*7 organisation. Any person in need may go to a home anywhere in the world at anytime. There is a rope that hangs outside and if you pull the rope, a bell rings. The nuns are ordained to answer the bell every time it rings. No questions asked. The other name for it could well be customer focus!

No doubt, Drucker wanted us in the business sector to learn from the not-for-profit than the other way round. At the heart of institutions like the Missionaries of Charity of course is volunteerism which holds the key to organisational excellence in the decades ahead.