Stiffening the Loosened Handshake

Early morning when I cross you, I acknowledge your presence with a smile, and an extended hand indicating a ‘Good Morning’ handshake. Pleased you offer your hand, and we retract our hands at the end of the 3^rd shake. We move ahead to our respective ways, with a warm feeling conveying trust, balance and equality among us. Probably this being the most apt defined purpose of a handshake at the end of the day.

Handshakes are an important introductory ritual in all manner of social contacts, and the research shows that the quality of the handshake makes a real difference, as quoted in “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” by William F. Chaplin et al., 2000. In fact the ‘Handshake Psychology’ has been an interesting phenomenon that has been several times under the scanner of research and easy ways of deciphering about people.

Our corporate houses are the places closest to observing the Handshake Psychology, as and when we come across several people/employees. And we cannot help but form an opinion about an individual and make judgments with the kind of grip, vigour, texture, strength and eye contact that follow.

Maybe one fine day we would find an altogether strong and enthusiastic handshake, and we would smile back at the new intern, or the employee who just received an incentive, or the employee who began his day wonderfully. Other days we came across a grip very much dead and wet conveying a nervous person, or an employee who just received some reprimand. All said and done, everyday we come across several hands that indicate the kind of mood and atmosphere the employee is going through.

Nevertheless a parallel interpretation exists as well, which talks about the spirit of togetherness – an enhanced version of equality, specially at places or offices whereby each morning the very first thing an employee entering his department does is, shake hands with all those already present in the department. More or less it becomes a ritual every morning, and more than a hand extended in pleasure, it becomes something out of mechanical habits. The employee entering the door, goes around each table/cubicle calling names of the concerned people, shaking hands; and before somebody decides to respond vocally the employee is already at the next cubicle. In the days that come, the employee merely goes and stands at the table/cubicle, pushing his hand across the others ' personal space; and quietly moving to the next. The routine gets so much in the system, that with a few more days that progress, the handshakes now resemble a three-finger grip, no eye contact, and worse a mere touch of the fingers. Plummeting goes their self-esteem and confidence, each passing day. Lack of trust heightens in the months and years that follow. Employees of the same department have very less to share and talk about, and they are busy suspecting the intentions of their colleagues. They despise each other and office politics is raking high in demand. But what doesn’t change is the mechanical handshake every morning, to mark the camaraderie and the culture that began with the vision of the top management. But what really makes the difference is now all the human touch is diminished, and the employees see each other as competition. Or maybe not, instead just robots working endlessly trying to achieve the set outputs and production levels. Missing the human feel and missing out calling on assistance to act on synergy at departmental and organizational levels.

Charging Up People

Remembering the lives and times of the 2006 Cricket World Cup, and when the Indian team cracking their first wicket all huddled together, to mark the sense of joy. They stood together for a minute or two and dispersed. And then when another wicket fell, the great Indian huddle was back! It was happening all so frequently, every match that it became a symbol for the men in blue. Whatever talks and emotions flew behind those armed walls, one thing that emerged certain was that the men were doing well.

Perhaps a new meaning it gave to fellowship, team building, morale and a lot more synonyms that could be associated with Camaraderie and Esprit de Corps. Thinking about the team huddle, and transporting it as a direct application into the corporate world; a hip-hip hurray situation together would need a lot of crushing of ego and spectacular moments to celebrate. But for industries at large, the “Eureka” moments come as strategic plans ranging from 6 months to 1 year to 5 years by the product or service launch. Waiting for so long for those moments of togetherness would seem like eternity. Rather having little moments to appreciate each other would definitely do wonders in organizations. Celebrating birthday’s, quarterly results, achievement awards and festivals is something that bridges the gap. But are our employees content enough with the kind of motivation this brings in them? Is the materialistic enhancement the only way to get them moving to new grounds? Are our Managers and Executives happy at the end of the day, or they are thinking of ways that can bring on more enthusiasm in work and some energy build up?

Enthusiasm is something I will take up in a later post, but for the moment covering the lifting of energy is what I have on my mind. I know of a certain organization which has found out unique ways to improve the feeling of belongingness and nurturing fellowship. Every morning before work begins, an odd 50 of them gather together for conducting morning prayers. The best part of the gathering is that the composition of the group ranges from the lowest person in the hierarchy to the top most person. They all stand together, much alike the great huddle formation; and follow the prayer session. What lies behind this act is the feeling of easy access with the management; and dealing with the fact that the employers are there to hear out their employees. It’s the feeling of standing at almost the same platform and being treated as equals. What does this do to the psychology of a worker/employee? It definitely makes him proud of his organization! It brings a zing of energy, ironically at the beginning of every new day. Imagining how his happiness would affect his productivity, he would certainly work an extra 30 minutes to his normal 4-5 hours of work capacity. Enriching the lives of employees by small steps and measures, that adds on to the productive work hours; is something all employers keep looking for! Material benefits feel like teasers to many who eventually get bored getting receiving tips for every new positive outcome at work. Addressing the ego of the person, and molding it inwards away from Reinforcement Theory of Motivation¹, sometimes works wonders with people.

What I suggest is not necessarily a group huddle as a pray, but any other form; say every week gathering in departments or shop areas and appreciating the little acts by people. Pertaining to work improvement isn’t just the basis, but even acts that constitute basic humanitarian grounds towards each other. Something like family time we have at our homes; even if for 5 minutes. Every day / week as per convenience looking out and welcoming those hands that work hard for us. Maybe one could even start the day with the National Anthem of the respective country. I fondly recollect how at school everybody felt so charged up after “National Anthems”. Or maybe come up with the company song, and I believe, something like this would definitely add feathers of pride to one’s cap.

[Reinforcement Theory of Motivation¹: [Proposed by B.F. Skinner’s] Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response causes an increase in the probability of that response occurring in the future. For more please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement ]