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The Squirrel that forget easily – A corporate leadership message
Highlights
Squirrels aggressively gather and burry nuts under soil during spring season in order to use these stored nuts during winter months, where the food availability is scarce. One can call squirrels to be very futuristic and well planned.
Squirrels aggressively gather and burry nuts under soil during spring season in order to use these stored nuts during winter months, where the food availability is scarce. One can call squirrels to be very futuristic and well planned.
The interesting point about squirrels is that they easily forget the large proportions of the nuts they had buried. Invariably they dig out the nuts of other squirrels and eat during winter. Conflicts seldom occur among squirrels because of their forgetfulness.
The point is not about forgetfulness of squirrels about the nuts they had stored so preciously for winter. One needs to know why they forget. If squirrels were so forgetful animals, they would not have even remembered about the forthcoming winter and engaged in storing nuts to overcome food scarcity during winter.
While gathering and storing nuts, perhaps, they are possibly only in the ‘doing mode’. They are seriously engaged in gathering and burying nuts under soil. They might have been doing the above job mechanically. Once the ‘doing’ is completed, only then they may be ‘starts thinking’. Naturally when someone does something without proper thinking, they tend to forget the same.
The message to be drawn by the corporate is that many employees behave exactly like squirrels. They are excellent workers. But when they are asked to explain, they behave as if they know nothing. They know only to do things and nothing beyond that. They work like machine.
The corporate bosses must guide the people constantly to keep remembering about the purpose and the intent of the assignment while doing. Once the link is lost, the purpose and the effort would remain in isolation without any relationship.
Many corporate employees do not know how to explain what they are doing. This limitation of people is well utilized by some ‘people managers’ and ‘bosses’. Do not be like a squirrel in working hard and then forget what you have done.
The problem is not about memory or remembering things, but is all about the purpose orientation. Too much of doing mode will certainly cause the above problem. The corporate in most instances never help such people. When ‘doers’ are there to do the job continuously, why to educate them to be aware of what and why they are doing. As long as people remain unaware of such realities, they work like a machine with least expectation and ambition. This would be the core approach of some HR function. Every corporate generally likes to have ‘human machine’ than ‘human beings’.
Kindle your inner thoughts and ask are you working like a squirrel in your corporate. If so, help yourself as no one will ever come to help you to free from your stupidity and ignorance.
Dr S Ranganathan
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