Myth of the one-man army
The tug-o-war between long-term vs. short term, reality vs. dreams, should vs. would, has been perennial. What I wish to add to the list is my latest ‘aha’ of performance vs. development. Before I embark on sharing my latest discovery the caveat that needs to be delineated is that, like everything else, this phenomenon is not ‘either-or’ but ‘more-or-less’.
Imagine an organization, parent or even yourself, who instead of emphasizing on the results, focuses on the development even when the times are not very rosy. Most of us, conditioned to evaluate in terms of the output, would dismiss them as not tuned into reality. But even a superficial reflection of our best experiences being ‘lead’ or observing a display of magnificent leadership would indicate that this assumption is shaky.
A single-minded focus on results gets us just that- results. Which I presume is not a very bad thing! What makes it ephemeral is the fact that it is debilitating and not sustainable. Forgetting the importance of development and relationships is a precursor to the dead-end of the road. It saps the energy out of the ones being lead and turns them into turtles that refrain from sharing their ideas, thoughts or creativity. Most of us continually crave for spaces that help us to learn, grow and as a by-product get results. But turning the tables so that the experience is about getting results and letting the development take care of itself is a bubble that is bound to burst.
Where it gets trickier is that sometimes to facilitate development in others the efforts toward the output have to be ostensibly slowed down so that the energy can be channelized into the other direction. Whether it is taking the time out, despite a deadline, to talk to a colleague; allowing mistakes for the sake of learning or spending more time than usual in handholding your child through an assignment; the investment of the time and energy is not only a ‘nice to do’ but a ‘must to do’. The proposition here is that success is achievable only if the concentration of efforts move from problem to the process to the person.
This is easy when all is going well- the organization has a cherubic bottomline, your child is behaving like an angel and you have all the time in the world to know and understand your peers. The awareness becomes essential when the real world strikes. That is when one needs to put the brakes to the instincts of treating others around as means to achieving the results and put their development and our relationships as the priority. This does not imply irresponsible ‘schmoozing’ with others ignoring the urgency of the situation. What this posits is that even when we go into the ‘crisis control’ mode how long do we stay there and how do we make others around us feel at that time.
Sometimes as the commitment to a goal increases, the flexibility to improvise takes a nose-dive. This is evident in entrepreneurs, and leaders who work for noble causes. Their capacity to exhibit compassion to customers and outsiders is in surprising contrast to the utilitarian view they possess of the people working for them. The single minded and narrow pursuit of the goal almost always excludes everyone from their journey toward achievement.
Balancing performance and learning of others is an intriguing dynamic. Years of conditioning justifies the treatment we shelve out to everyone else, characterizing our endeavors as a personal journey to higher achievements. But the anomaly lies in the truth that it is never a personal journey. Even if you are a solitary noble prize laureate research scientist, you need to connect and reciprocate with people to avoid stagnation. What makes it magical is that facilitating development is just another way of spelling your own development.
The tug-o-war between long-term vs. short term, reality vs. dreams, should vs. would, has been perennial. What I wish to add to the list is my latest ‘aha’ of performance vs. development. Before I embark on sharing my latest discovery the caveat that needs to be delineated is that, like everything else, this phenomenon is not ‘either-or’ but ‘more-or-less’.
Imagine an organization, parent or even yourself, who instead of emphasizing on the results, focuses on the development even when the times are not very rosy. Most of us, conditioned to evaluate in terms of the output, would dismiss them as not tuned into reality. But even a superficial reflection of our best experiences being ‘lead’ or observing a display of magnificent leadership would indicate that this assumption is shaky.
A single-minded focus on results gets us just that- results. Which I presume is not a very bad thing! What makes it ephemeral is the fact that it is debilitating and not sustainable. Forgetting the importance of development and relationships is a precursor to the dead-end of the road. It saps the energy out of the ones being lead and turns them into turtles that refrain from sharing their ideas, thoughts or creativity. Most of us continually crave for spaces that help us to learn, grow and as a by-product get results. But turning the tables so that the experience is about getting results and letting the development take care of itself is a bubble that is bound to burst.
Where it gets trickier is that sometimes to facilitate development in others the efforts toward the output have to be ostensibly slowed down so that the energy can be channelized into the other direction. Whether it is taking the time out, despite a deadline, to talk to a colleague; allowing mistakes for the sake of learning or spending more time than usual in handholding your child through an assignment; the investment of the time and energy is not only a ‘nice to do’ but a ‘must to do’. The proposition here is that success is achievable only if the concentration of efforts move from problem to the process to the person.
This is easy when all is going well- the organization has a cherubic bottomline, your child is behaving like an angel and you have all the time in the world to know and understand your peers. The awareness becomes essential when the real world strikes. That is when one needs to put the brakes to the instincts of treating others around as means to achieving the results and put their development and our relationships as the priority. This does not imply irresponsible ‘schmoozing’ with others ignoring the urgency of the situation. What this posits is that even when we go into the ‘crisis control’ mode how long do we stay there and how do we make others around us feel at that time.
Sometimes as the commitment to a goal increases, the flexibility to improvise takes a nose-dive. This is evident in entrepreneurs, and leaders who work for noble causes. Their capacity to exhibit compassion to customers and outsiders is in surprising contrast to the utilitarian view they possess of the people working for them. The single minded and narrow pursuit of the goal almost always excludes everyone from their journey toward achievement.
Balancing performance and learning of others is an intriguing dynamic. Years of conditioning justifies the treatment we shelve out to everyone else, characterizing our endeavors as a personal journey to higher achievements. But the anomaly lies in the truth that it is never a personal journey. Even if you are a solitary noble prize laureate research scientist, you need to connect and reciprocate with people to avoid stagnation. What makes it magical is that facilitating development is just another way of spelling your own development.
posted by Garima at 2:37 AM
1 Comments:
Very beautiful thought.It is very much relevant in today's scenario where team work and symbiotic growth is put on back foot when it comes to achieving result oriented individual success and growth. There are some necessary developments and sweet relationships, which are beyond the capacity of any measurement scale like money possesed, designation etc, and it surely does require lot of effort and time to achieve.
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