Do you like silent workers who make no fuss
and complete their work with integrity?
Or, do you prefer workers who not only work
but keep you informed about their achievements, making you wonder whether you
are doing justice to their full potential?
I possess the temperament of the silent
worker. Eleven years into my career, I was praised for it by my bosses in the
multinational I served then, “Unlike others, he keeps to himself and does not
indulge in negative activities.” I was rewarded with promotions and pay hikes. My
career growth was better than that of my peers. I was included in conferences
and meetings meant for senior officials. The Managing Director and the Vice
Presidents were friendly to me. My words were respected. Unwittingly, I had become
a sort of a yardstick. Though a lowly manager, I became part of a delegation to
Singapore and China. I got selected as one of the top hundred salesmen
worldwide, and was honoured in a special ceremony in Hawaii. I was given a
double promotion and transferred to head the sales branch in Pune. What else
could a silent worker ask for?
I smelt disharmony on my very first day at the
Pune office. It had three sales engineers; two belonging to one division and
the third belonging to another. Most of the business came from the first
division. The lone engineer felt ignored. He did not keep others informed about
his movements, and generally behaved like an outcast. He appeared to be
struggling to run his separate office from within the existing one.
I corrected the situation by organising family
events in which I insisted upon his presence. I also introduced a system of
sitting together and sharing each-others’ lunch whenever possible. I observed an
improvement in working relations, and was happy about it.
How mistaken I was!
One day I received a call from the divisional
head of the outcast pal. The head spared no words in expressing his disappointment
in me, demanding to know why was I preventing his engineer from attending to
phone calls during the lunch period; why was I leaving the office within
fifteen minutes after the closure time; and why was I not entertaining his
engineer’s customers.
I was at a complete loss of words! It was
true that I discouraged colleagues from taking calls during lunch. There were
no cell phones then. One had to leave the table to take a call, and others had
to wait for the person to join back. Just three calls could stretch the
fifteen-minute lunch to thirty minutes.
I used to leave the office shortly after
office hours, because I wanted to give time in the evening to my small children.
I was travelling most of the days, when I did not see them at all.
So far as not visiting the engineer’s
customers was concerned, I balanced my time amongst all three engineers,
visiting customers who merited it.
Obviously, the engineer had used my name to
protect himself from the aggressive division head. Sharing the reality with the
head would not have cut much ice. The damage was done. My good intentions were
thwarted by the short-sightedness of some people. I started looking for a
change, and within a year changed jobs.
The company I joined had a young managing
director. He told me that my earlier bosses spoke well about me, one of them
going to the extent of accusing, “You have poached one of our best boys.” I headed
the Mumbai region, away from the MD and Vice Presidents who sat in Pune and
elsewhere. I increased sales by 50% in two years, made inroads into white goods
bigwigs such as Godrej & Boyce, and, true to my silent worker style, did
not make a single courtesy call to the MD during the period.
That proved to be my undoing. I never
became close to the MD, and finally left the company on completion of my
three-year contract.
The worst was yet to come. After a one-year
stint in another company, where I was instrumental in effecting a 100% increase
in sales, I realised that unless one was also good at politicking, delivering
good results alone was not sufficient. I decided to try my hand at doing
business. I had saved a decent sum, my provident fund was good, and investing
these two I could easily manage the setting up and the initial year, I thought.
The company was launched.
The business was dull, but I was trying. I
had the back up of an international IT giant. How could I fail, when lesser
known outfits were doing so well? I kept on paying the royalty, and worked hard
to expand the business. And then, one day, the skies fell. The company unceremoniously
closed the business unit under which my company was operating. Not only was my
investment wiped out, I was left to start life afresh with not a penny in my
pocket!
I nurse no grudge, no ill feeling towards
those who did wrong to me. But I have a regret. I wish I had been able to
change my nature, and had networked my way to the head of the division, to the
MD, and to the IT giant’s business unit. I would have been better prepared for
the unfair onslaughts then. I still look upon office politics as a dirty word;
but ability to network can be a saviour.
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