No heart, no mind, just bodies

We had invited a niece for dinner. She works for a famous but struggling information technology company.

Arriving rather late, she explained, "Actually my work got done quite a long while ago but we just hang around because that is our company culture. They say that it is the responsibility of employees to hang around for longer periods at the workplace on their own time."

Could it be insecure managers and leaders, or employers trying to extract the maximum from their people for what they pay them, that cause such a culture to be imposed. Such behaviour is mostly counterproductive as I learnt.

I asked her what she felt about having to work an extra 2 to 3 hours of her time?

She said, "It is unfair and stupid. Most people have no inspiration, are mostly demotivated, in fact they are anti organisational and often work against the organisation's interest, by doing the minimal amount of work, slowing things down, not pointing out problems or weaknesses, and not attentive to customer's needs and problems."

She then added, "Uncle there is no dialogue with management. They never try to understand our problems and how we can contribute. They are concerned, but they just do more of the same thing expecting different results. Can you imagine this? To add insult to injury, they have appointed a very senior person retired from the army to keep an eye and spy on employees and their own colleagues. What a disgraceful waste of money and rank? They would be better off distributing that money to other employees who add value to the organisation rather than having a glorified policeman."

She added, "The irony of it is the gentleman sleeps on the job, often watches movies on his computer and himself always arrives late to work and leaves early. "

Most people know that 'kicking butt', has limited benefits, then why do they indulge in it? Because it nourishes the inferior ego to overpower and browbeat juniors.

Slave driving may be workable for driving physical labour and tapping brawn, but it is totally unproductive when dealing with knowledge workers.

By force you may capture the bodies of employees and your children, but you can never capture their hearts and minds.

Commitment and motivation blossom easily in open organisations where people are respected and challenged to excel. Discipline is important but it has to be cultivated, if it is imposed too heavily it acts like a spring, the moment pressure is removed it jumps back to original situation.

Thus classrooms and workspaces are now physically occupied, but intellectually and emotionally empty.

The neck of the bottle is always at the top.

F requently requested to assist organisations large and small, I observe a common and recurring theme. The issues revolve around the struggle of owners /managers to manage effectively. This is visible predominantly in companies that have started small and are growing, in family run businesses and families themselves. They are invariably puzzled that management approach, style and methods which worked so well in the past, now just don't work anymore. They resort to even more hard work and effort, yet the situation only worsens. Finding themselves in unfamiliar situations they dart here and there implementing fads, half hearted strategies alien to their thinking and character. They do this because they are getting frustrated and doing something is considered better than doing nothing. They change staff and managers. They churn product mix, vendors and even customers and markets. They try so many things but nothing seems to work. They chang...

You have to play the game to win it.

In life its not sufficient to be merely efficient but to also be effective. Someone once asked my father Man Singh ji, 'What is the secret of your success?' He remarked, "I do not always make right decisions. I make decisions, and then almost always make them right" Read more ..........

The boss is always right

It was in 1502 that the egoistic mayor of Florence (Italy) Piero Soderini was under great pressure. He had appointed a novice to work on a giant piece of beautiful marble to make a sculpture under his guidance. Typical of many bosses Soderini had overestimated his own capabilities and by drilling a big hole in the middle of the block of marble Soderini and the novice had ruined it. Soderini had to find a solution, and finally commissioned Michelangelo to do a sculpture . Michelangelo agreed and using the available shape decided to sculpt a young David with a sling in his hand. A few weeks later as the statue was finished, Soderini came to see the sculpture for himself. Soderini was pleased with what he saw. However like many patrons and bosses Soderini had to impose his ideas and have the last word. Soderini instructed Michelangelo to change the shape of the nose because it was too big. Michelangelo grasped the situation immediately realising th...

Enigma Solution

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