Manager in the making - 3 :: "Things Falling in place"

Hi All

"Things Falling in place !!"....this is a statement I have proudly uttered to my direct reportees at office - some times to one of them, few times to both of them together, few times with a thumbs up sign and a smile at them (or one of them) when some thing happens.....to mean this.....not just once but at least two dozen times in the past exciting 11 months....!!

To be quite honest, I just brought them in loop only half of the times when things worked out favourably for me....and it was not unfortunate that these two were not around at the time when few things happened to me at office OR there were certain other things that was not in their purview or things that are irrelevant for them.....I just get reminded of this statement and focus on doing the next task in hand...with my conviction on this wonderful statement going one notch higher....Yes..."Things will FALL in place.....if we are very clear about it and a longing is developed to handle it in a particular way OR develop a craving to do something about it"...

The statement is quite abstract....it can be quite related with YOUR experiences with another oft repeated statement which is repeated in different perspective as "when the student is ready, teacher arrives"......I just meant to deliberatly move away with a new statement quite consciously which is much bigger in scope in official context.....I dont mean any thing different than what could be experientially true to you when you utter the latter statement....

One such experience happened to me on Saturday which any reader of this piece may quite easily brand as "co-incidence"...They perhaps will miss out the whole point without this long prelude..... You need to learn theory of probability to identify some thing as "co-incidence"....

At my parent's place, where I had gone Friday late night as my father was reportedly sick, I had some mixed agenda on the following day....few things that needed to be fixed up by the old couple needing my support....I took my father's bicycle which to my surprise was still reliablly smooth (believe me, it was just 7 - 8 years younger to me....!!) and had a quadrant II activity of riding a cycle after close to a decade and half.....!! (I had gone to their place in a official cab as I reached home by 12 am midnight.....) I enjoyed the 4 kilometers drive on a sunny afternoon getting reminded of simple rules of those days which I have forgotten these days...

One of the tasks (challenge ??) I had was to approach the Manager of a bank where my father's pension was credited (SBI) in connection with my father's life certificate.....Government at India has some strange rules of producing life certificates for their pensioners once a year in order to continue the pension - which by itself is one of the humiliating and degrading way to honour the Senior citizens....leave aside the crude reminder about DEATH and its inevitability that this process can force upon a pensioner....& also a guilt sense for hapless few who get reminded during this process that "they are still alive" as a liability to the Government (and to their homes....??)

My father was sick for the whole of the week and was not in a position to go to the Bank by himself which is required as a part of the process. More than the sickness, I could sense that he has a ethical problem (ego ??) of why at all he should travel all the way while the Government has the duty to visit him and prove themselves that he is alive...?? After he requested me to explore the possibilities at the Bank to "demand" a visit by the officials to our home (for which he had given me a signed letter explaining his sickness - which ofcourse was written in a horrible handwriting owing to his poor health....he also suggested me to visit the Doctor close by to get a certificate from her too to strengthen his case before going to bank), it was my mother's turn. She met me private to tell me that even in the previous year he had a ethical tangle with the Bank who were quite harsh at such requests.....and suggested me not to push too hard for a house visit and tell an "appropriate" feedback to my father when I am back....

This was an interesting case study and what more challenges a "future" manager at office....!! I decided to plunge on this assignment like a hungry lion though I was not willing to show it to my mother and assured her that I will take care...I profousely thanked her for telling me the previous year's tangle which made me quite alert...

Here I was whistling to myself while riding the bicycle, took the certificate from Doctor on the way and reached the Bank....I went inside quite cool and approached the right gentle man after some search for him. This person had no emotions in his face and when I requested him about the process for sick people, he motioned me towards the Branch Accountant who can take a decision. The Branch Accountant at the first impression was quite a serious person busy attending many visitors and I sensed that I need to frame my sentences and use some technology to have my assignment closed - if at all I wanted a favourable result (You may get reminded here that last year at the same bank, there were few unpleasant scenes with my Father shouting in the Bank telling that he is "VERY MUCH ALIVE"....and coughing profousely perhaps just to gain sympathy....he at times is a good actor too !!)

I put the situation in crisp statements and infact asked him quite innocently if he can give the Life certificate to ME straight way based on the letter from my father (I was dead sure that he will not...but how else to get started ??) while he got started impatiently that there is a process to be followed and he cannot entertain my request on my father's behalf.....I cut him short and told him this...."I did try to explain my father that we have to oblige the set rules and processes. He just requested me if you can visit him at our home...its not far off sir....and this is only a request ?"....and kept my body bit bent forward and my face smiling with the gaze fixed on him.....!! He looked at me for few seconds and immediately decided the course of action.....asked the responsible person to give him a blank format of the certificate stapled along with my father's letter and kept it safely in his own table...He told I can come the next Monday to fetch some official to the home for verification but I have to drop the person back after the sign off was over at my home....!! (I am sure this should be the process for each and every senior citizen for the country...perhaps the government should consider bearing the conveyance cost and do such things without any reminders....). He also told me to approach him on Monday directly so that he can idenfity me and send his person without waiting time....

So much from a senior person in a nationalised & Government patronized bank !! I heartily thanked him wondering how I am going to organise this visit as I had planned to have a hectic day at office on Monday...While I was approaching towards the main hall from the Accountant's cabin, my eyes were fixed at one of our family friends who was entering the Bank - another old man who is quite a frequent visitor to our home....He is a nice man and sort of volunteer in local temple....Without thinking much, I immediatley responded to his smiling face and after exchanging words of courtousies, "smartly" delegating this task to him and candidly telling him that I will pay him for organising an auto to do the whole thing.....All he wanted to do this help for us is to get reminded on the morning of Monday which I mentally decided to tell my mother to do....

So...thats the end of the long narration of the small but wonderful incident....To me, it appears that a Good Manager becomes more and more effective with his delegating abilities and he can improvise himself by finding the dependable resouruces around him...Some times, it may happen that he takes the decision on the DELEGATEE and become too proud of his decisions....A wise Manager clearly knows that there is a much powerful manager above him who perhaps keeps watching all his deputies below with a smile in his face and "creating" situations for them to perform better. Some times, the situations created are quite subtle and not too apparent....just to check the levels of shrewdness ...

I prefer to be a wise manager in the future. I continued singing the grand old song that I was singing loud while I got over my father's old bicycle....getting ready for the next opportunity for LIVING.....!!

suchoo