Organisational Olympics!
HERE is a scenario most of us are familiar with. People come in to work like reluctant schoolboys dragging their feet and collapse into their chairs totally spent. By mid afternoon they would have wilted and in the evening they drag their cadaver back home. This is repeated day after day with alarming regularity and organisations are dotted with lack- lustre employees who look more dead than alive.
Given these rather bleak circumstances, it is hardly surprising that there is an awful discrepancy between organisational expectations and employee performance. Organisations would do well to consider each of their employees as an athlete and train him accordingly, instead of merely considering him neck up and connecting high performance with cognitive capability.
Organisations offer theories like motivation, rich material rewards, the right culture and so on but these only partially address the problem. The body, emotions and mind have to work in tandem to be in peak condition and organisations have to take on the responsibility of encouraging their employees to do just that.
Professionally speaking
The average professional athlete spends a large chunk of his time practising and only a small percentage competing. Yet our executives are expected to perform day in and day out, year in and year out with the same intensity with hardly any emphasis on training.
Again, athletes enjoy several months off- season whereas executives may only take a two or three- week break and even feel guilty about it. They even sneak in their laptops to the vacation spot, check mail and give in to the demands of their cell phones.
Contributing their mite
Here is perhaps what organisations could do to help executives help themselves.
Corporate club membership, a fully equipped gym on the premises, a friendly cricket match between divisions, Pilates, aerobics or any form of exercise, especially yoga, should be made available to the managers. Workouts of any kind release feel good endorphins, which in turn de stress and calm people so that they can turn in their best and come to work fully charged to put in several hours of constructive work.
Co-authors Aburdene and Naisbutt say that sports develop leadership skills that catapult people into the executive cadre. What better way to prepare for leadership than to confront fear, challenge the body's resources and master discipline and risk taking?
Music in the workplace could also clear the mind of clutter and soothe ruffled feathers. It could also tame the savage beast lurking in most people and enable them to take decisions in a controlled manner.
Sending managers to workshops to hone their existing skills could act as a refresher course. They could also develop new skills and keep their minds in top form. A word of caution would not be unseemly here. Workshops should be chosen with care and not foisted on people with little or no regard to their efficacy. Organisations very often feel their people should be indebted to them for life for having sent them to expensive workshops and training sessions. There should be an insistence on feedback, methods that work best and also their implementation. It has been noted that workshops have an interest span of only a few days; thereafter they become a distant memory. Employees should be able to refer to skills they have picked up at the workshops they have attended in the past.
Organisations should rightly expect value for money and have every reason to question the training imparted.
A mentor or coach at this point would prove invaluable to the employee who wishes to better himself, nay even excel. Work could be supervised and changes made at the precise moment deemed necessary by the coach.
A library, however modest, could enhance reading skills and keep the executive abreast of the latest trends and organisations must aim at providing the best services for their people.
Breaks should not be frowned upon; even doing something as mindless as taking the stairs instead of the lift or going onto the office terrace to see the setting sun can empty the mind and bring forth a much needed solution.
Jack Nicklaus, one of the greatest golfers of our time, has this to say about the way he arranges his day. He has "peaks of concentration" and then descends into "valleys of relaxation". This keeps him mentally alert and ready to tackle even the trickiest shots.
The final analysis
Leaders and managers should lead by example. It is not uncommon to see a band of trim, lean and energetic frontline spurring employees to follow suit. Cost cutting measures involve cutting the flab and trimming the fat and well-toned bodies exude energy and emotional well-being.
On the playing field as well as in the boardroom, it is all about harnessing energy and channelling it so that the individual as well as the corporate are in a win- win situation.
Now let the games begin!
JAYANTHI MURTHY
Jayanthi.hyd@cnkonline.com
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