I observe an interesting phenomenon these days in the younger generation. Everyone is on the “culture” bandwagon. We talk of empathy, community, collaboration, and whatnot. You can find scores of posts on all the social media about these. If you believe these words, you will feel that we have already landed up in Shambhala. The facts state a different story. We all are always looking up to better ourselves, emotionally, financially and on all fronts on an individual level, more than a collective level. So, jumping jobs to get better opportunities, including financial ones, are an accepted trend in the workplace. No one ever objects to that at all.
But when we talk of empathy, community, collaboration, etc, how right is the individual’s personal growth journey? What happens to our relationship with people, and our loyalty to our current organization? Are not we leaving them where they are and moving for our personal advancement? Before you jump to any conclusion, let me add that I am not advocating being one to be stagnant in one place for the sake of others.
You can surely move to different avenues, different destinations. But till you are in one place, you can surely be concerned about the organization and its people and not use them as stepping stones and ladders. You can make efforts to understand and trust people and use your abilities to pull up everyone together. Otherwise, the talk of culture seems like an aberration, when compared to the acts of “culture cause” championing people.
Loyalty brings trust and trust is the foundation of all cultures. If we are not loyal to the people where we are presently located, we do not understand what is culture. If we are really concerned about community and collaboration, every act of ours should include the betterment of each one around us, including seniors, peers, and subordinates. And even when we need to leave, we must share the reasons for our leaving with the people at our current location. Whether we feel suffocated, are paid less, are not allowed to be creative, or get no authority in decisions making; we must share that before we move away. Till the day we move away, our loyalty should be with the present team.
We also need to understand whether we are using these high-sounding words like empathy, culture, collaboration, etc to impress others or we really feel those words in our hearts and act accordingly. If we are trying to impress people, it gets exposed very fast. People are intelligent enough to separate façade from acting unless you are an Oscar-winning artist.
People who leave organizations for growth need to understand that growth includes introspection and no self-growth is complete unless we start understanding our inner reasons for action without justifying those. We need to align our thoughts, words, and action before we can really grow. The circle of life does not include just money and career. It includes health, relationship, spirituality, and contribution also. At the end of the day, we need to be satisfied with our life and that is only possible when we were just with everyone. Otherwise, thoughts haunt us of our own wrongdoings, even when no one knows about them.
Live a life so that we can die peacefully in abundance. And that is only possible when we try to help others as well on our path of growth. Let us focus on #makingworkplaceshappier.
Talk to me about the culture problems you are facing. Maybe together we can find a solution. Send me a mail at contact@rajeevaranjan.com or book a free discussion time with me on www.rajeevaranjan.com.
Comments