SHARED THOTS – 27.06.14.
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The ethos of work.
My nephew was the proud recipient of
two global awards for excellence presented at Brisbane at GE Regional HQ. This
is the umpteenth time he is winning these accolades. He has made it a habit of
outsmarting his peers and galloping towards a finish line that can only be
defined by him.
This dispatch is dedicated to him… not
as a biased encomium, which he does not need, but as a study for those with
similar ambitions from my own thoughts, which I am sharing with the youngsters
reading this.
I read a note from the eminent
spiritual guru Mr. Gopalakrishnan - “Work gives meaning to our life. You gift
your work to the organization and the organization gives you the gift at
the end. Highest talent and deepest devotion give you a fulfilling experience
in life.”
“Work Ethos is at the heart of why we work, what drives us
and gives us purpose and
meaning in the
workplace. It is a state of mental being that leads to what Gallup describes as
employee engagement (or disengagement)”.
It is said that when
we work with full devotion we become more happy and contented than the
management / owner. Work itself is the pathway and result for happiness for
many people. Thus working is known as karma yoga. You become one with the karma
/ action, that you are expected to perform.
We have to perform
the action for our personal needs, family based goals, society oriented
compulsions etc. Each of these is the part of our life. Working itself is
the experience in the life.
When you work for one
hour with full involvement and devotion, the mental / psychological
energy wastage/ utilization is approximately 20 points (say for example)
and if we do the same work without any interest, the energy
utilization or wastage reaches 100 points. Thus we get easily
exhausted when we do a work reluctantly.
One can see many
people work late night without getting tired or exhausted.
This is exclusively due to the fact that their energy UTILIZATION is
maximum and WASTAGE is minimum.
“The average person
puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work.” ~ Andrew Carnegie
Karma yoga is
focusing on action / karma with devotion without looking deep into the
reward. However result of each action is present with action/ karma, whereas
reward has to come from outside. Remember that we can get one reward from
inside. That is SATISFACTION.
“Working hard becomes
a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing your
self to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.” ~ Mary Lou
Retton
5 Factors That Demonstrate a Strong
Work Ethic (Small Business Index – Demand Media, USA)
(Look for an employee with these 5 factors.. it is then the
responsibility of the Management to retain such an employee, if ever one can
find such in these days).
·
Integrity – is given the highest importance. This is the
rarest quality among senior managers.
·
Sense of Responsibility – pretty straight forward.
·
Emphasis on Quality -
Some employees do only the bare minimum,
just enough to keep their job intact. Employees with a strong work ethic care
about the quality of their work. They do their best to produce great work, not
merely churn out what is needed. The employee's commitment to quality improves
the company's overall quality.
·
Discipline – all important as crucial as
‘self-discipline’. “Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals,
and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success
than any other single factor.” ~ Brian Tracy
·
Sense of Teamwork - Most employees have to work together to meet a company's
objectives. An employee with a high sense of teamwork helps a team meet its
goals and deliver quality work. These employees respect their peers and help
where they can, making collaborations go smoother.
So do the work, one
after the other with devotion, dedication and sincerity. When you think
one job is not good for you, quit and search for another job which gives
you satisfaction. But be mindful, changing jobs alone cannot guarantee satisfaction.
Remember – the grass is always greener on the other side.
Quitting a job:
Study shows in a
majority of cases especially in large companies, one who quits a job is doing
so, not for quitting from the Company, but quitting from the boss. More often
than not, it is a boss who creates conditions that prompt “potential successors
to him”, to leave the company. This can happen due to many reasons, common
being the perception of insecurity felt by the boss – lack of confidence in his
own ability, fear of being overtaken by an immediate junior etc, and more
importantly the failure of Top Management to recognize ‘achievers’ down the
line.
A good Management is
one which has a system to identify potential achievers – the system must pick
& choose, select and provide a ‘fast track’ for these achievers to realize
their aspirations. Without a ‘track’, unfulfilled aspirations lead to
discontent resulting in a potential loss to the organization. This is the most
significant contribution by GE that paved the way for boys like my nephew to
excel. GE Management recognized few even at Junior levels to possess the 5
factors mentioned above. Thereafter the chosen few were put on a fast
track. Their ‘involvement’ is total to the Company.
“Big jobs usually go
to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” ~ Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Yet, when involvement
is total and the bar is set higher and higher, a word of caution is pertinent –
as in any field, there is always a ‘burn-out’ stage. Care to be taken both by
the Employer and employee to prevent this from being the case at some stage in
the growth. One’s growth must be proportionate to his potential and
aspiration.
During employable
age, it is easy to switch jobs and it is also common to find, this is not an
automatic solution to overcome the feeling of discontent. Somewhere there is a
line that needs to be identified which is a divide between ‘expectations’ and
‘satisfaction’.
There are never
ending enormous reservoir of books on Management principles advocated by
learned professionals, drawn from experience and practices in Industry. But the
best lessons are learnt from life experiences. Simple incidents that happen
around us, may seem to be of no importance to us, can be given a totally
different meaning, when viewed from a different perspective.
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There was this robbery in Guangzhou , the robber shouted to everyone:
"All don't move, money belongs to
the state, life belongs to you". Everyone
in the bank laid down quietly.
( This is called “Mind Changing Concept – Changing the conventional way
of thinking”)
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One lady lay on the table provocatively,
the robber shouted at her. "Please be civilised! This is a robbery and not
a rape!"
(This is called “Being Professional – Focus only on what you are trained
to do!” )
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When the robbers got back, the younger robber (MBA trained) told the
older robber (who is only primary school educated),
"Big bro, let's count how much we got", the older robber
rebutted and said,
"You very stupid, so much money,
how to count, tonight TV will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!"
( This is called “Experience – nowadays experience is more important
than paper qualifications!” )
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After the robbers left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor
to call the police quickly.
The supervisor says "Wait, wait wait, let's put the 5 million RMB
we embezzled into the amount the robbers robbed".
( This is called “Swim with the Tide – converting an unfavourable
situation to your advantage!” )
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The supervisor says "It will be
good if there is a robbery every month".
( This is called “Killing Boredom – Happiness is most important!”)
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The next day, TV news reported that 100 million RMB was taken from the bank.
The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count
20 million RMB.
The robbers were very angry and complained "We risked our lives and
only took 20 million RMB,
the bank manager took 80 million RMB with a snap of his fingers.
It looks like it is better to be
educated than to be a thief!"
( This is called
“Knowledge is worth as much as gold!”)
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The bank manager was smiling and happy because
his loss in the CINOPEC shares are now covered by this robbery.
( This is called “Seizing the opportunity – daring to take risks!”)
( This is called “Seizing the opportunity – daring to take risks!”)
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Have an enjoyable weekend. For the
sports enthusiasts, enjoy the rest of World Cup Football and Wimbledon.
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MOHANDAS.
KP.
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