Efforts, Recognition and Rewards

The Creator has bestowed each one of his creations with some capabilities, resources and talents. This is true of any item we come across, whether living beings or non-living things. Non-living things do not realise these and are only a tool in the hands of a living being. Other living beings also often do not appreciate this to the fullest extent and have very limited use of even their own capabilities or faculties. Man is one living being endowed with multiple capabilities and talents, and also having the power to use, channelise and harvest these multiple talents. Man is not only able to use his own faculties and resources but also put to use other resources, be it physical, mental, living or non-living. This distinguishes him from all other creatures. This special competency provides him opportunity to put efforts to achieve his goals, after deciding about the goals themselves. Being a social being, he also desires to be recognised for his efforts and accomplishments. Mere recognition is not the ultimate desire for many for putting forth efforts in a given direction; they also yearn for rewards for the efforts put and the recognition made by the society of their efforts. The concept of "Nishkaama Karma" is indeed beautiful, but does not always find acceptance in a materialistic world.

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What is the real meaning of these three words - efforts, recognition and reward? Dictionary gives many different meanings, but the most common and acceptable meanings provide a beautiful link to these three words. Effort is defined as "exertion of physical or mental power" or the "amount of exertion expended for a specific purpose".  Efforts are required to reach a pre-determined goal; otherwise the goal only remains in the mind or paper. It is well-known that a lion has to identify and hunt its prey; the animal does not come and fall in the mouth of a sitting lion. As regards a man living in a structured society, recognition of such efforts to realise a goal becomes important. Recognition is defined as "the acknowledgement of achievement, service, merit etc." or "expression in the form of some token appreciation" by others around him. Does some token appreciation suffice? It may be so for some minor efforts and trivial goals. What about an appreciable quantum of efforts put in and a reasonable harvest of results? That requires something more than a mere token appreciation; it deserves a reward. A reward is defined by the dictionary as "something given or received in return to recompense for service, merit hardship etc." Thus there is a bond between the three, which is a means and ends relationship in a civilised society.

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When we glance around us in the context of efforts, recognition and rewards, it is often seen that some get rewards for the efforts of others. Some others who put a lot of efforts do not even get the recognition they deserve. There are many instances where efforts are put in by someone, recognition goes to someone else and the fruits of rewards reach yet another! This is all the more true when we scan through the tributes paid to a departed soul by the leaders of the society. Sometimes it sounds funny while at other times it hurts. "He will always be known as a poet who richly deserved the Jnanapeeth Award, but never got it", is an example of one such comment. The one paying such tribute would have even worked very hard to deny the award or reward to the concerned person! Luck does play its part when extraneous issues come to the forefront pushing behind real merit or deserving credentials.

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The post of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in our country is held in high esteem. Many distinguished personalities have occupied this prestigious post and set very high standards in conducting the business sessions of the august house. It is normally reserved for one of the senior most member of the house as the belief is that a senior member knows the rules of functioning of the house well. Other experiences as well as the respect they command from the other members are of vital consideration. Sometimes Politics also plays an important role for selection of such candidates. It is used as an alternative post to someone who should have been given a rightful place in the Cabinet, but the leader is uncomfortable in having the person there. It has also been used to accomodate a representative of a friendly party in the give and take game of politics. 

Many names were making rounds as to who would be the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha when the house was constituted recently after month long general elections. Press, Media and Political Pundits gave the post to many persons with lengthy justifications. Ultimately the one chosen as Speaker was Shri Om Birla, who was elected to the Lok Sabha only for the second time! Not many had heard of him though he had a distinguished political career thus far.

In the background of our discussion on Efforts, Recognition and Rewards above, the election of Shri Om Birla makes a very interesting case study. What are the special qualities of Shri Om Birla that have catapulted him to this distinction? 

• Shri Om Birla, born on 23rd November, 1962, in Kota, Rajasthan, worked as student leader during his educational career and was known as a good organiser.
• He won his first major election to the Rajasthan Assembly form Kota in 2003.
• He won the next two elections to the Assembly as well, in 2008 and 2013, each time with bigger margins. 
• As three times member of the Rajasthan Assembly he worked tirelessly for bringing Chambal river waters to his area.
• "Paridhan" is a program run by him that provides free books and clothing to students/people  in his constituency.
• He runs a free blood supply group in his area.
• An arrangement for providing free food to the poor is available under his guidance.
• A free medicine bank is established to provide medicine to the needy.
• Special relief is available to Cancer and Talassemia, a disease associated with low red blood cells count.
• He is involved in providing artificial limbs to the Physically challenged.
• A nutrition and employment program is run for the tribal people.
• His team of volunteers did excellent relief work in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims. 
• This is his second stint in the Lok Sabha. He has worked in the Parliamentary Committees assigned to him with distinction.
• Average participation of members in 16th Lok Sabha debates was 67. For Shri Om Birla it was 163.
• He raised 671 questions in the house as against a house average of 293 per member.
• He has a remarkable reputation in the house; when he gets up to speak, everyone knows that he is going to ask for something to his constituency. He does not end it by asking; he follows up and gets it done.

Shri Om Birla has started on the right note by admonishing members who are speaking among themselves during the house proceedings, not sparing even the seniors. He has ruled that no religious slogans can be raised in the house.

People outside his area of work probably did not know much about him. He was like the proverbial fruit behind the leaf. He has now received the rewards and recognition for his long service to the society. Now that he has become the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, we may hear about him more often. Good luck to him!

Of meeting or extending deadlines

The earlier definition of the word "deadline" was in relation to a prison.  In that context, a deadline was a boundary around a military prison beyond which a prisoner could not venture without risk of being shot by the guards.  Crossing the deadline was an invitation to death and the prisoner was well advised to stay within that boundary line to stay alive.  Death could not be prevented by staying within that boundary; death is a certainty of life.  Though death could not defeated by staying within the deadline, its coming could be ensured in due course without an invitation for early arrival.

Modern definition of deadline has entirely changed.  It is the time by which something must be finished or submitted.  It is the latest time for finishing something, usually an assigned task.  Not finishing the task before the deadline is considered as an indication of inefficiency or of being not serious about achieving the assigned task.  When life was proceeding at its own leisurely pace, things were done as and when they were actually completed and not when they were expected to be completed. In individual-centric tasks deadlines may not assume as much importance as work to be accomplished by teams.  This becomes all the more critical when the achievement of deadlines is linked to performance of organizations, like meeting customer expectations or reaching a sales target.  Unless all members of the team work with single-minded dedication, meeting the prescribed deadline may not be possible.

There are people who question the very rationale of having deadlines.  They may argue in favor of "natural way" of doing things and allowing issues to take their own course.  They may suggest that deadlines are not always necessary and it brings more mental pressure and blood pressure than working with pleasure.  But experience has taught us that adopting an attitude of "allowing natural way of doing things" often results in matters drifting and reaching nowhere.  However, there is a need to fix a deadline after evaluating the resources and reasonable possibilities.  Excellent teamwork can do wonders and the sum total of team's capabilities may exceed the arithmetic aggregate of individual capacities.  Fixing a realistic deadline provides a better chance of achieving it.  A reasonable deadline provides energy and enthusiasm to start the assigned work with the confidence of achieving it before the expected date.  Artificial deadlines tend to make the very effort of traveling the path laborious and painful.  A deadline arrived at after free exchange of views of the members of the team has a higher chance of being met than those imposed from above. Organizations have to often fix a deadline first and work backwards to plan and mobilize resources.  This is the reality of the given situation at times and finding additional resources to meet deadlines in the circumstances becomes necessary.

Attitude of different members in a given group to achieve deadlines makes an interesting study.  Some always believe that deadlines are there only to be extended automatically. They neither contribute their share of efforts nor allow others to proceed systematically. They act as an impediment in the progress of others as overall progress is impacted by individual lethargy.  Periodical review of the progress of the task becomes necessary in such situations and blocks have to be ironed out firmly in the interest of the team.  There are bound to be some weak members in the team.  The issue is not whether they are weak, but one of whether they are willing.  It then becomes the responsibility of the leadership to provide support to the weak but willing and carry them along.

There is also an issue about relevance of deadlines in creative assignments.  Creativity does not yield to deadlines.  There is a certain minimum time before creativity incubates and emerges.  But a very creative production which arrives after the time limit for its utility is past is also a waste.  Thus there is a need for achieving a golden mean between creative brilliance and practical schedule for delivery.

There are some who always achieve the deadline and there are others who never achieve it.  For the achievers, it is a sacred duty.  For the non-achievers, well, it is a way of life.  They often stay that way because they are able to get away with such attitude.  What should be done with such weak links in the chain?  Their continuance in the team is to be evaluated and suitable decision taken without hesitation.  Just as rewarding performance is important, punishing non-performance is also necessary.  Never leave out the failing man and do not put unnecessary extra burden on the efficient horse! Teams drift because performers are disheartened by watching non-performers get away easily. Leadership should also dispassionately watch individual performance in team tasks and ensure that true performers do not go unrewarded just because they are shy of blowing their own trumpets.

What should a member of the team do when he feels that he cannot deliver his share of output before the deadline?  It is advisable to frankly say so, with valid reasons, before accepting the assigned task.  This will provide the team leader to choose an alternate player or press additional resources to reach the goal.

Not meeting deadlines lead to time overruns.  Time overruns lead to cost overruns.  Cost overruns threaten viability of the projects and very survival of organizations.  There was an excellent cartoon by R K Laxman in which a senior officer is explaining about a project to a minister in a dilapidated project site.  The explanation goes something like this: "Finishing this project costs a big sum of money.  Abandoning the project will result in wastage of even bigger sum of money already invested.  We are, therefore, implementing it at a slow pace to keep the losses at a minimum".  Projects that do not meet deadlines probably belong to this category!