Chapter 5 - Innovation
Day 12
So what does it all mean? It means that you are so formal, you are walking around with a glass gaze all the time. It means we are content to remain in our shell and not really connect with one another, each time we communicate.
As a result, there is no real communication, no bonding happening. We need to create that informal environment around us, wherever we go, for authenticity to blossom.
We need to truly understand the difference between motivation and inspiration. What can we do for motivation offer our employees a raise in pay, give them some bonus.
Now this works for a couple of months maybe, and then that is it. It will not be enough to make the person's enthusiasm sustain over a longer period of time.
But if people are inspired from within to take up a mission, to see a job through to successful completion, they will put their heart and soul into it and their efforts will bring success.
This is what is needed then, this shift from motivation to inspiration. We see social activists and revolutionists going all out for a cause. We see them go to irrational extremes even, to fight for whatever they believe in.
Can we somehow apply the same principle in our work environments and inspire people to take up a mission and achieve their goals? Think about why an entrepreneur would do a better job than an employee.
It is not just about making more money. This is one of the salient questions we need to ask ourselves. Transforming the human mind is the key to driving success.
A sense of caring, compassion, a sense of belongingness, these are essential aspects of human growth, human relationships. Imagine this scenario.
Someone is sick and is admitted in the hospital, and when you visit them, you ask them "How are you?" They reply, "I am fine." If they were fine, why are they in the hospital in the first place I say.
But you see, our questions are many times quite irrelevant. So if our communication remains at this superficial level, if we are this apathetic towards our fellow human beings, no wonder then that depression has become a common phenomenon in today's society.
Today, a large chunk of the population in Europe is depressed. And now with the economy going down, the percentage of cases of depression must surely have gone up.
Here, in our big cities too, the incidence of depression is visibly on the rise. Last week, I was in IT Kharagpur. Do you know what the director told me? He said that the most frequently sold pharmaceutical drug in the campus is the antidepressant.
Picture this, if people around you in the office are taking antidepressants, do you really expect them to deliver any better results in their work? So we need to take care of not just our physical health, but also our mental health and emotional well-being.
And I think that is the main reason why an HR department is created in every company, every business set up. Am I correct? The HR department is put in place precisely to deal with people's personal issues.
But if people are being treated like machines, you do not need an HR department. HR is required to address all that we consider human'. So what are the qualities that we need to pay attention to then?
Mental health, physical health, communication skills, the degree of inspiration or motivation that employees can hold on to and their capacity to take on work, and how to increase their capacity as they
go.
These are the issues one needs to reflect on. If you turn back time and look, 5100 years ago in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna did the same thing.
He has been the first HR manager India knows. When Arjuna was so depressed and was not ready to do his job, Lord Krishna was with him in the battlefield, and told him all sorts of things.
First, He warned Arjuna that people would blame him for sure. Then He incited Arjuna's ego and tried to wake him up. And then He offered His disciple different incentives, saying, "If you win, you will have the kingdom.
If you lose, you will enjoy Heaven. Come on, fight." In many ways, Lord Krishna lifted Arjuna out of that depression. So let us examine the doer now.
There are three types of karta, or doer. One is the sattvic doer. What does the sattvic doer do? He is full of enthusiasm. Whether his efforts meet with success or not, he still learns something from the experience.
With every failure he learns something, with every success too, he remains calm and moves on. He doesn't get bogged down by failures nor does he lose his humility when he finds success.
That is the kind of abiding energy he comes up with. And he handles every situation to the best of his ability. There there are the tamasic and rajasic kartas, or doers.
They say, "It is not possible." In the case of some people, if you give them a project, they will come up with a hundred reasons for how it is not possible, how it will not work out.
Then there are others who are always ready to take on challenges. And given the three types of kartas, knowing how to change from one to the other is all the methodology or technology that we need to make things work in any situation.
So, from the rajasic karta or the tamasic karta, who is in slumber, who says "Nothing is possible" and "I can't do it," we go to "Ok, let's do it". We have it in us. We will achieve it."
Come up with brilliant ideas, innovate as much as you can, to manage any kind of situation at work. Determine to face every scenario with this kind of energy, so that transformation has to happen.
You have titled this conference ‘The Breath of Change’ right Breath definitely brings about the required change in us. Breath can change the doer, the person within you.
The one who is depressed, angry, agitated, demotivated, into someone who is enthusiastic, creative, energetic, who is more cooperative and who can withstand any drawback, resolve any conflict.
