MANAGEMENT
We are all constantly exhorted right from days at the nursery school of how important hard work is to life. And hard work has to continue during all phases of personal and professional life. We quickly reckon that success, in whatever definition and format it means to us individually is dependent upon toil, perseverance and hard work. In recent years as a delusion to this concept a new coinage of ‘smart work’ has emerged; what escapes most is the fact that even for working smart, the need for hard work is a requirement too. At the end of it all, it is perseverance, toil, hard work, and consistency of pursuit that matters.
At our work stations, as co-workers or as supervisors we cannot lose sight of the need to work hard. The everyday monotonous and routine job that is performed from morning till evening in its isolation cannot be classified as perseverance and hard work. Perseverance relates to unrelenting effort towards a predetermined goal and the ‘effort’ has to be pronounced with hard work. Performance of routine job is like being a machine, churning out same quality output, day in and day out. It is only when a worker or supervisor brings to his job the dynamic and productive feature of imagination that it becomes reflective of perseverance. The unshakeable belief in objective of pursuit is a consequence of a persevering attitude. Those who pursue never despair. ‘The secret of success is constancy of purpose’, had remarked Benjamin Franklin.
Since perseverance is a journey hence it is not a single step or rushed sprint that will get any manager towards his goals. It is always the slow and steady that wins the race. Initiatives have to be backed with action steps, it is grain by grain that ultimately satisfies the ambitious; even the hard stone wears away with constant dripping.
Business challenges are many, some old and some new. Of these, many go away with focussed toil, but some remain as consistent risks that need mitigation. When things go wrong, a manager or supervisor does not need to look at anything else, except himself. An intelligent manager would recognise and discover to make amends, his deficiencies. This is not easy. In everyday life on the shop floor, even the most proficient manager gathers ground in his persona by the lavish and most certainly not truthful accolades thrown at him by his immediate environment. Imperfections are both obscure and visible. It is the hidden ones that have to be brought to the fore for immediate corrective measures. No supervisor can ignore that it is by mere labour alone that one draws fire out of a stone. To pluck the fruit, you have to climb the tree and perseverance alone is more prevailing than any other act of pursuit.
It is not the pinnacle of success that thrills managers at the end; it is the grandeur of the effort. Said Pascal, the struggle alone pleases us, not the victory. He conquers who endures. Since one arrow does not bring down two birds, a focussed attention must be applied for attaining the goal. An initiated manager will ensure that each colleague is giving a decent and well described performance evaluation sheet with clarity on time lines on which date and by when, the assigned task would be completed.
The imagination to have carved a separate by-pass to existing practices is a first step to have autonomy over capital workforce, regulator relationship, etc.
Honey lies in every flower, but it takes a bee to find the one laden with it to pull it out. Akin to this is the fortitude and perseverance of a manager that will sustain him well through periods of gruelling challenges. In the battle between the river and the rock, the river will always win. Not through strength but through persistence.
For the manager and supervisor, the idiom learnt at school that ‘little strikes fell great oaks’ applies perennially at the workplace. No initiation or task needs to be performed in rush or state of excitement. Flogging a dead horse should not be confused as perseverance. Obstinacy of thought and action is reflective of a manager who is self-centred and is usually full of himself. Managers must learn to move at the right time from positions of obstinacy to change. It is only fools who refuse to change. Perseverance against obstinacy reflects that the manager is possessed of ability to look at things afresh; otherwise it is melting away of a resolve.
It is said that troublesome circumstances and situations bring experience to the manager, and if not harnessed, holding all information to oneself will most likely backfire. Trouble brings experience and experience brings wisdom.
Wisdom has no relevance to age. The wind in one’s face makes one wise. Wisdom and virtue are two happy companions; it is the wise manager who would know and own his follies. Upon recognition through persistent perseverance an intelligent manager would connect himself. I have found colleagues making excuses for not being either hardworking or persevering through remarks like, ‘don’t have the time.’ ‘can’t find enough time’, ‘can’t balance the home and work life’. Lame, simply, lame! ‘There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time’ (Lord Chesterfield in Letters to his Son - 1747).
Forsaken by the wind, you must have ability and capacity to use your oars. Whilst it is good to begin well, it is still better to end well. Reliance on dame luck without investing toil and perseverance is to pull a joke upon oneself. There is an English proverb; nothing is got without pain, but dirt and long nails.
If the expectation is to draw fruit without ploughing and tilling the soil, then all dreams will remain in the realm of the unachievable.
Perseverance requires patience. Hard work will yield success. In the meantime, optimism shouldn’t be lost. No bad harvest in a season should prevent us from fresh sowing. You shall reap what you sow.
Finally, in William Shakespeare’s words, “Nothing can come of Nothing” (King Lear).
The writer is a senior banker and freelance columnist
