The Story of Four Horses

Imagine that we are to pick one of the following four horses and train it to be a world class racing horse winning most of the prestigious prizes.

Though all the horses look exactly alike they have the following characteristics.

The first horse just knows what to do and where to go. It does not need any guidance. It can sense what you want and do things accordingly. If you wish it to turn right it would do so. If you wish it to go left it would go left without your asking. All you have to do is to wish. This horse just seems to know your mind so well that little or no effort is needed to guide it.

The second horse moves in the desired direction only when you crack a whip. But the whip need not touch the skin. The sound of the cracking is enough to steer it in the desired direction.

The third horse moves in the desired direction only when the whip lightly touches the skin. A light touch is enough to set it in motion and move the horse the way you want it to move.

However, the fourth horse is extremely stubborn. It moves only when the pain of a whiplash reaches right up to its bones. Till that time it refuses to move an inch in any direction. This horse does not do anything unless it feels the pain deeply enough. 

Which horse would you care to put your money on to win races for you?

The Game Plan

Before the advent of the Indira Gandhi canal, Nachna in Jaisalmer district (Rajasthan) was considered a very “hard” posting. Nachna, in the middle of the Great Indian Thar Desert was always considered tough as water was scarce and in the summer the temperature often crossed the 50 degree Celsius mark. Food items included only millets and ghee (liquefied butter). Transportation was few and its only connectivity was with the main desert town -- Jaisalmer. There were only ten telephones in the hamlet which most of the time remained inoperative.

Arvind Mathur was in a fix. None of the staff were willing to go to Nachna. The vacancy position showed two vacant posts. How to motivate these staff to go to a “hard” station with no benefits to lure them.

Anil Kumar had been married for the last ten years. He has an eight year old daughter studying in a reputed school at Bangalore. Anil Kumar had recently been transferred to Jodhpur. He had an earlier posting in this set up during his initial career. Anil Kumar had worked in these places and is as comfortable as a local person would be. Anil Kumar voluntarily opted to go to Nachna.

Arvind Mathur heaved a sigh a relief. Anil Kumar is efficient and knows his job. Arvind Mathur gave him the liberty to form his own team members. Anil took charge of the Nachna unit. Two years passed. Everything went on smoothly.

Arvind Mathur wondered why Anil never took a vacation to visit his family stationed at Bangalore. It is purely a personal matter. Why should I worry?  Arvind thought.  One morning Anil turned up at Jodhpur and met Arvind Mathur.

Sir, you post me at Bangalore or else my wife will divorce me. He couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.  Arvind was shocked. Transferring individuals out of the set-up is not within his ambit. He can only recommend for a transfer to a particular place.

Arvind Mathur started to ponder. The conversations he had with Anil began to strike him again and again. How casually Anil told him that his wife would divorce him. Arvind knew Anil has some plans. Arvind set out his trusted staff to find out the actual truth.

Anil Kumar has a paramour in Nachna. He had become friendly during his first posting in the set-up. Due to cultural and caste differences Anil was not allowed to marry the girl of his choice. Anil had to marry as per his father’s choice. Anil’s marriage never took off. His wife remained unhappy.

What was Arvind suppose to do now? Re-unite Anil with his wife by posting him back to Bangalore. This would certainly unite a family and also pre-empt Anil from initiating a divorce from his wife thus making her guilty.  Or don’t post him anywhere and continue with the present situation.

Sitendu De is the author of this post.

Posted via email from Sparkling Insights

To be or Not to be Motivated

Two days back we were conducting a program on ‘Motivation and Team building’ for group of first line officers of an electronic component manufacturing company.

After inauguration of the course, with top managers still there to monitor, I asked the participants a simple question, ‘How many of you are motivated at work?’ In a second all hands shot up in the air as if it were a reflex action. I just couldn’t believe this. It was simply too good to be true. The next question naturally followed, “Why then do you think management selected you to attend a course on motivation and team building?”  Answers varied but the one that struck me most was ‘You have come to teach us how to be motivated. So we are in to listen to the tricks of being more motivated.’

Oh my God! ‘Teach’ motivation; ‘Tricks of being more motivated;’ did I hear correctly?

The top managers left the training hall happy with the belief -- the training has taken off well and was ‘interactive’. This was all they wanted to monitor.  

Long after the ice was broken and transformed into flowing water I put the question again, “How many of you are really motivated at work?” This time there was no show of hands.

Surprised, I queried, ‘What happened?’

Then one by one they opened up:

“To tell the truth, I just don’t feel like leaving my bed to come to office.”

“I have been working here for the past 16 years. None ever appreciated me or my work.”

“I think I am stuck with a stupid job. My bosses don’t believe that I am capable of doing something much better.”

“The pay I get is insufficient to take care of my child’s education in good schools’

And it went on and on….

‘So why did you say that you all were very motivated?’

‘We just pretended because the bosses were around. We told them what they would like to hear. Otherwise they would take it out on us during performance appraisal review.’

Are bosses/managers/leaders listening?

Can anyone remain motivated in an environment of fear or in an environment that sucks?

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous