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 “
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 ]
No comments:
Post a Comment