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I have been an ardent believer and follower of the Bigg Boss . I said there is a lot to learn from it as early as season 11. The effect may wane as the degree of innovations and craziness drop or spike. I may be watching fewer episodes and not interested in the participants. But, I will remain interested in the interplay and interaction, the passion and the efforts, the rivalries and the friendship and much more.
I and my dear friend and mentor- Vermajee and I discussed BIGG BOSS over a few glasses of Laphroaig in our three-cube style. Bigg Boss is one show that reflects life in its complete duality. The ups and downs would beat the most volatile stock market. We saw merit in the show and a concept that slowly took shape. A corporate offsite concept with a change. I write and share the idea for two reasons. One, to let people know we were the pioneer thinkers and two, to act as implementers or consultants to the corporations who may want to try it out this winter.
BIGG BOSS RETREAT.
The retreat idea is flexible and highly adaptive. It works on the minimalistic concept of treating the participants with luxury. It is amendable to a villa in Lonavala or Goa, a cottage resort in Mukhteshwar, a cruise or even a farmhouse.
One can select representatives through nomination or audition across the organisation or a specific department.
The duration could be a week – i.e. Sunday to next Saturday ( 7 units of time) or 3 days (12 units of time) when the 6 hours is treated as one unit of time. It can be directed to solve issues and problems, ideation, innovation or be real fun.
Camera units are limited.
There is no access to the external world- TV, Radio, newspapers, Social media.
Access to a laptop that can only log in to the intranet.
Real-life issues and problems are presented to teams and individuals, along with fun tasks to keep them going.
The inside gang of participants can opt-in any person from the organisation.
And they all wear the same defined uniform for equality.
Rest Of the Organisation.
The rest of the organisation watches the webcast on the in-house intranet without permission to record or forward any part of the process. The organisation, through e-voting, decides who leaves the retreat.
A start-up can go public with the show- making the brand name get all the mileage.
Though it is inspired by the real Bigg Boss, it is not Bigg Boss.
BIGG BOSS RECRUITMENT RETREAT.
We look forward to some corporate entity using BIGG BOSS as a format (asking us to define and execute) to recruit the best candidate from a pool. Get all the candidates during the winter vacation and put them through a 7-day process. Watch them interact and make friends and enemies. Approach, plan and execute tasks. The interplay dynamics. The chaos of living together. Meeting deadlines and celebrating or taking in failure. The process may follow the ‘Selection Through Rejection’ approach, as the internal team watches and rejects a person’s candidature at a fixed interval. In the end, you get the pre-checked gems for organisation culture, knowledge, leadership, thought process, mental and physical strength and emotional quotients.
RULLES.
The Bigg Boss is an ever-evolving format that allows for tinkering as the Janta wants. The thing remains that the winner does not participate in another season but can be a consultant- is that not a very corporate thing to do? There can be single- multiple, no eviction or whatever the BioggBoss likes. There is Dil, Dimage, and Dum– part of everything a business would need. I can see such diversity, inclusivity, sensitivity and approach to the possibilities that it is nightmarish to attempt to describe them. The best is -Rules are meant to be broken.
NET NET.
I firmly continue to believe in goodness and learning while watching Bigg Boss. My observations across seasons could be a book someday.
The format has so much HR in it. Business schools just gloss over interpersonal skills, negotiation, approach, attitude and groupism. It is an inspiration for crafting an apt corporate result-oriented offsite. It can even help the employees bond and help the organisation identify the candidates with expiry dates.
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