FREE online courses on CRM - Developing People-The Key To Success - Take
Them Higher
- Be Flexible
When Ishmael reports for duty
aboard Captain Ahab's ship, ‘The
Pequod', on the mission to locate and destroy the great white
whale Moby
Dick, he goes to sleep in the cabin allotted to him, only to be woken
at midnight by the uproarious entrance of a huge Black man of frightening
appearance carrying a razor-sharp harpoon. On finding Ishmael, apparently a
White interloper of questionable origins, the newcomer (actually an ex-cannibal
and Ahab's chief harpooner, Queeqeg by name) almost kills Ishmael before
Starbuck, First Mate, resolves the misunderstanding. Later, they became the best of
friends, with deep respect for each other's religions and personal philosophies.
“ Better to lie down with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian” is a
well-tried saying.
Stereotypes limit our perception
of people. And rigidity
in our perception of people can lead to assumptions about subordinates:
1.
Women get too emotional to manage others, even other
women
2.
Successful women are aggressive
3.
Engineers are poor communicators
4.
Red-heads are short-tempered
5.
Men who speak with regional accents are not as clever
or sophisticated
6.
Men are male chauvinists
7.
The physically disabled are unintelligent
Stereotypes limit our perceptions of
people and limit, thereby, our own
chances of development, because we generally get from people just what we expect from them… no more, no
less.
Bosses who have high expectations from their staff generally get a high
performance.
Stereotypes are indispensable for
movie-makers but deserve no place in real life, like The Wild Bunch, a group of
desperados who terrorized the West before succumbing to change and retribution.
There are enough rigidities in working life, as it is, without our prejudices
further limiting productivity and individual development. Sir Ernest Rutherford,
working with the team that cracked the atom, first saw
Niels Bohr as a student, swinging a pair of football boots by their
laces. Rutherford got his way and the unconventional Bohr was allocated to his
research group. Another fine judgment, based on instinct, but tempered by the ability to think flexibly…you can,
too:
a.
Go for flextime
b.
It's results that count, not hours put in
c.
Allow your team time off to think, plan, R&D
d.
Encourage flexible attitudes
e.
Examine fresh ideas carefully; they may be too
revolutionary for you to grasp at first
f.
Resist pressure to recruit people who fit
pre-conceived notions of what the job needs; don't judge the banana by its skin
g.
Amend rules to promote development and results
h.
The organization that adapts fast and best to the
changing environment thrives.
QUESTIONS:
1. How can an inflexible approach retard
progress?
2.Can you present a brief case
study to illustrate the state of a problem before adoption, as well as after
adoption, of a flexible approach to the situation?
