Anupam- The Dreamer

When I was in TATA Steel, I had the good fortune of meeting many plant chiefs during our training period. Most of the chiefs there were amazing people, devoted to their work, highly skilled and knowledgeable and deeply motivated. During one of our interactions with a small group of trainees, one chief remarked- “If you are learning from the organization or else if you are contributing to the organization, then in these two situations you should keep doing your job. If nothing of the two is happening, then it’s time to quit!” What an amazing piece of advice from the experienced mentor to his mentees! And that too in the very early phase of career. Very rare people give a fair advice which is both in the interest of the organization as well as of the employees! Those of us who found value in continuing, stayed there, and those of us who after some point of time found some better opportunity outside, quit.

But, there are still a lot of people that we can find everywhere in our organizations, who are neither learning from the organization and nor contributing anything to it. This category is just working to “save their job”! These are like deadwoods, who don’t have any shred of motivation left to learn and enhance their skill-set, so as to become a better version of themselves, experience happiness in achieving their own professional goals. Also, they have nothing to contribute to the organization, in advancing the achievement of organizational goals. Basically, they are working for their own personal benefits that they derive from the organization, even if that is detrimental to the organization as a whole.

I heard the story of one pervert employee who used to deliberately make some faults in one machine in an inconspicuous manner at night. Dozens of employees and even bosses could not fix that problem. The company was losing crores every hour. But, when the pervert employee came to the factory, then he “repaired” his deliberate fault and the machine started working fine. When this happened 2-3 times, seniors got suspicious that how come the same person is alone able to fix the “fault”. Then, the truth eventually came out and he was fired! So, when the employee starts acting in his own interest even to the detriment of the organization, which is his/her source of bread and butter, then he/she does no good to own interest as well as interest of the organization. And by striking to the roots of the organization, he/she is striking at own source of income. But, some people are too short-sighted to see that.

Even in the government, there are people who don’t either learn or who don’t contribute to the goals of the organization. They are deadwoods, who have only selfish interests in mind. They can be found dilly-dallying work, sipping tea in the corners of the office, smoking sutta at nearby shops, gossiping for hours, watching cricket matches for the whole day, and doing nothing in the name of work. And if some work is assigned, then they use all their “skills” and “experience” to avoid or delay the same or to transfer that to some other person. Their prime concern is their own interest, and their salary, which unfortunately is not linked to their performance. One retiring employee told to his colleagues on the last day, that earlier there was no time to come to office, and we could leave at our own will, but now it is little bit stricter. What an incredible farewell message to his colleagues and what a great tribute to the organization that served him for his life!

This brings me to my first story of the chief. So, you have to ask the question to yourself- what you are learning from the organization, and what you are contributing to the organization. It is a cyclical loop, the better you learn, the better you can contribute, which will lead to better performance of the employee and also of the organization. And strong organization will lead to stronger employee and vice-versa. And if you aren’t doing any of these, then you are just working to save your job. Period.

I am reminded of what Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam used to say:

“If you salute your duty, you do not need to salute anybody, but if you pollute your duty, you have to salute everybody.”