I write in this
reflective blog, true reflections of what I learnt from the various aspects of
it that touched me.
The First Class!
In the introductory
class to this course, Viji Ma’am had a light and candid talk with us on general issues, just to give us a
feel of what was to come, and to break the ice. I had great learnings from this
opening lecture itself, which set the tone and raised my expectations from what
was to come. I realized how cooperation reduces as competition in your
workplace rises. This makes it important to motivate people around us, and to
give incentives for knowledge sharing. At the same time, equal incentives could
demotivate a person, so incentives should be dynamic and based on what a person
actually deserves. We discussed how some jobs are getting monotonous and
boring, and the need to redesign them to make them more interesting and
engaging. At the same time, I understood the importance and need of creativity
and innovation in the workplace.
The Changing Nature of Modern Workplaces
My work experience
lies in the field of manufacturing, and that too in my own family business. So,
I haven’t had the opportunity to work in a proper office space with several
colleagues. But from what I have briefly seen and heard from known people,
workplaces have tremendously evolved over the last few decades. Our parents and
grandparents worked in places which were far different from where we work
today. Today’s workplaces are very flexible in all aspects like timings, roles,
places, ambience, even compensation, among others. Multi-tasking and interaction
among employees is given a lot of weightage. There are fewer cabins nowadays,
and the workplace is more open. Fun activities are conducted, and social
networking is very common. Organizations are adopting flat structure to break
the formal nature of work, and encourage better relations among workers. Smart
dressing, work from home, and a diverse food menu are recent trends in modern
organizations. The highlight of modern workplaces, I feel, is the young
workforce. The average age of bosses has also come down, making it easier for
other young professionals to work with them, due to better compatibility and
understanding. It is important to give the employees the freedom to work in an
open and flexible environment. Even a small informal conservation by the water
cooler can be the source of brainstorming and new ideas. I also think that when
freedom is given to responsible people, they value it and flourish, which is
also the reason why Google is the most preferred and the most productive
workplace in the world. Gamification of the workplace, Bring Your Own Device,
Fish Philosophy, etc are some of the other new and innovative practices that
are gaining prominence in modern organizations. To sum it up, “Work is no
longer the place you go to. It is what you do!”
Three Lessons from Steve Jobs
Ma’am introduced us
to this topic through a very interesting, emotional and inspirational video of a
speech by Steve Jobs delivered at Stanford University. The highlights of his
talk, for me, were three important stories of his life. He stressed on the
importance of ‘connecting the dots’, which taught me to have belief and trust
that whatever happens, happens for a reason, and when I look back to my past, I
will be able to connect every event in my life that led me to the path which
has brought me to where I am now. He also reflected back on how he got fired
from his own company, Apple, and had lost all purpose in life. But what amazed
me was his positive outlook. According to him, that was the best thing to have
ever happened to him. He was free from responsibilities and obligations, and
that was when he was at his creative best. This indicated to me, that how
important it is for a person to be tension-free and relaxed, to give his best.
I also realized how important it is to not lose faith even when life hits you
hard. He also said that one should do what he loves, to get true satisfaction
in life. Another thing which I learnt from him was making best use of whatever
limited time we have in doing what we innately want to, irrespective of what
others think or say. It is important to have the courage and conviction to
follow our hearts and intuition to become what we want to be in life. This
pretty much summarized my learnings from this module.
Reflected Best Self (RBS) Exercise
The RBS exercise was
a wonderful new concept and exercise that I came across, thanks to Ma’am and
this course. It helps individuals to understand and take advantage of their
strengths. The best part that I liked about this exercise was that it does not
focus on your weaknesses, because working on your weaknesses does not yield as
good results as working to develop your strengths does. The exercise basically
involves asking for feedback from respondents who have seen you from close
quarters at various stages and moments in your life. To make my own RBS
analysis, I contacted some of my close friends from school and college, my
teachers, and of course, my mother. Believe me, the responses I got really made
my day. For the first time ever, I got a written feedback from my near and dear
ones, stating the strengths they see in me, and how my strengths have helped
them in some way or the other. Most of these had never been expressed by them
ever before. To my surprise, all the responses had similar patterns, and the
respondents saw similar traits and strengths in me. Some of the strengths they
saw in me were not even known to me, to be honest. Their replies on how my
strengths had helped them were also good to know. According to them, I come out
as a hard-working perfectionist; a patient and good listener; a balanced,
persevering and adaptive individual; a helpful, reliable and inspirational
friend; and a witty and knowledgeable, but at the same time, frugal and simple
person. All these responses felt like the sweet fruits of how I have been as an
individual. Thankfully, I now know what strengths to work on in future. All
those wonderful responses will always be with me for the rest of my life. I
stand vindicated. But, of course, there’s always room for improvement and
self-development!
The MBTI Exercise
As a part of this
exercise, I took the MBTI Test which gives us a 4-letter combination as a
result, and judges us on qualities like introvert/extrovert,
intuitive/sensitive, feeling/thinking and judging/perceiving. Based on my
answers to the MBTI questionnaire, I got my 4-letter combination as INFJ (67% Introversion,
12% Intuition, 25% Feeling, 33% Judgment). I found this
analysis of my personality traits as reasonably accurate, especially with
respect to my introvert nature. But I feel that, contrary to popular belief,
introversion is not a negative quality, and the power of introversion is often
underestimated. Introverts are very good listeners, think before acting, have good
powers of concentration and introspection, and have good control over their
emotions and actions; and these are qualities that I see in myself. This
opinion of mine was reinforced through a TED Talk by Susan Cain on ‘The Power
of Introverts’, which Ma’am showed us in class. I usually take in and assimilate
information and knowledge from around me, only to express it in a comprehensive
and wholesome way, with the larger picture in mind, which justifies my
intuitive nature. I believe in taking decisions by diving into the situation
and thinking from a more subjective, understanding and empathetic viewpoint
before taking decisions. But in some situations, I do prefer to think firmly
and objectively, because I believe in honesty more than diplomacy So, I believe
that I have a mix of both thinking and feeling natures. I also agree with the
test result that I am inclined to being more judgmental rather than perceiving,
as most of my actions are planned and organized, rather than being spontaneous
and last-minute, which also does happen, but only in situations of urgency.
Perceptions & Stereotypes
The central theme of
the lecture was soon understood to be Stereotyping,
which is generalizing about all based on opinion about one. Then further light
was thrown on Stereotyping and how it was nothing but perceptual distortion.
Its components – cognitive, emotional and conative – were also discussed. We
were then asked to form random groups on our own (preferably with our
classmates whom we don’t know well), and discuss stereotypes that we experience
or have, how they impact our lives, and what can be done to remove those
stereotypes. Among the many stereotypes that people came up with, one of the
most discussed ones was that ‘women, in general, are bad drivers’. This was
something most people agreed with and it was something many of us had
experienced. Among the reasons discussed, some of them were women’s low
confidence, slow learning ability and low population of female drivers compared
to male drivers in India. A solution to removing this stereotype was that we
can look around us for examples of good female drivers, like our mothers or
sisters, for example. Also, if some female driver is seen to have problems with
driving, they should be further encouraged to go for driving lessons and
improve on their driving skills. But this also sparked some arguments and small
debates between boys and girls of the class regarding who were better drivers
and who were rash drivers. Ma’am had to intervene to calm everyone down!
The Five Elements of Education & Learning
Ma’am started off
with the Five Elements of Education &
Learning with an analogy to the ‘Five Great Elements of Hinduism’. She
explained to us how each of these elements were connected. Fire was connected
to Knowledge, representing inner desire and intensity. Earth was connected to
Learner, showing how a good learner absorbs all knowledge, just like the earth
absorbs everything into itself. Water was compared to Teacher, showing clarity,
purity and flow of knowledge. Air is likened to a Means of Communication
through which knowledge flows, just like sound flows through air. Ether was
compared to a Learning Space, which indicated the purity, sanctity and elegance
of a learning atmosphere. This was a completely new dimension to learning that
I came across. I had never thought of it this way, even though I have been student
for almost 20 years now!
Panel Discussion
Ma’am had promised
us that she would be inviting people from the industry for a panel discussion on
the importance of Individual Dynamics in Organizations today. As promised, she
did invite people from the industry, and it was a discussion not be missed. The
highlights of the discussion for me were – the importance of taking credit for
the work you have done, how organizations today look for an individual’s
attitude towards work and like those who can be easily moulded, how one has to
give importance to the greater good of the organization rather than personal
interests, and the importance of having sensitivity about global cultures in
organizations. It was another great experience was to be able to interact with
the panel members after the discussion also, where I got an opportunity to get
some of my personal doubts clarified about my goal, that is, entrepreneurship.
Viji Ma’am Herself!
Few of the greatest
learnings from this course were from Viji Ma’am herself! I have found very few
people as understanding and humble as her. Her sincerity, honesty, friendliness
and helpfulness are her hallmarks. As is evident from her teaching methods and
from her talks, she considers the classroom as a sacred place of worship, and
comes to engage every class with 100% preparation and delivers with 100%
dedication and effort. And I say ‘engage every class’ because that is what she
really does, everytime! It is not just any conventional lecture of a monologue
or dialogue. In this case, it was more than that, a discussion I would say, or that
every class was an activity! This brings out in me, genuine feelings of
admiration and respect towards Viji Ma’am. Thanks to her, our class, which was
a group of MBA aspirants before this course, is now a family of future
managers! God bless you, Ma’am.
