Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Bless the subordinate!

“Bless the top guy" is what I once told the railway bosses when asked for advice on how to set on track the railway catering and tourism corporation. And I believed in what I said for that is the only way to set right things, yet rarely followed or practiced.

We from the system always believe in giving advice when support is sought for mistrust and one-upmanship remains at the core of all that we do when dealing with others. That one brain properly utilized is always better that many who just want to make their presence felt is neither felt nor appreciated, perhaps because of the fact that deliverance almost always has taken a back seat in favor of power point presentations and detailed reasoning and explanations that help one to tide over uncomfortable scenarios even at the cost of the future.

The herd mentality has unfortunately clouded the minds of almost all who man the system and this is indeed sad. What the herd believes in becomes the belief of the individual for people do not want to be perceived to be seen as standing up to the belief of the masses howsoever foolish the belief may be. And the conformance to perceptions, howsoever unsubstantiated they may be ensures that the real scenario is never allowed to come to light and decisions get taken on wrong basis.

Unfortunately almost all organizations that I headed had also been a victim of incorrect perceptions that brought them on the verge of collapse. Regular hollow arguments lamenting about excess staff resulted in a scenario wherein staff shortages hugely affected operations, yet the ivory towers rarely reacted.

Another incorrect perception uniformly experienced by me is that the blame was always laid at the altar of the staff whereas like all failures the root cause has been inept management.

It is also unfortunate that in almost all cases of inept performance, the people in leadership positions display traits not of leaders but of one who lacks confidence on himself, is incompetent or short of integrity. When a subordinate seeks support, they dispense advice. When they are fired by their superiors, they pass on the firing to their subordinates. This is the stuff that most of us in leadership positions are made up. And in light of the same, the lament of non-performance, is indeed hilarious.

The best of leaders trust people reporting to them. They are courageous and maintain highest standards of integrity at all times. They do not lose their cool even under intense pressure. And they do not dispense advice when support is warranted. They are indeed people who appreciate that blessing the subordinate is the only key to success. And there are many that the system has, yet we need more of them.   

11 comments:

  1. इलाईची के दानों सा,
    मुक़द्दर है अपना...!
    महक उतनी ही बिखरती गई .
    जितने पिसते गए.


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  2. Wow Sir,
    Exactly what I envision for the people of Indian Railways.

    My thinking matches with the words you have expressed here..

    I hope there is a positive change that will be witnessed because of your presence.

    Lovely thinking Sir!
    All the best...

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  3. Sir welcome back in IR... Looking for positive initiative like railway should do only operational and maintenance activities..
    All unrelated activities like hospitals, schools, personal services etc imidiately stopped
    Rpf should given full powers as police

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  4. Really inspiring words sir.Please take steps to stop the officers who are actually tyrant and misuses funds without any longterm planning ,frequently transfers trained persons with no scope of his gained ideas for rlys development . Also look into the old DAR and APAR rules too, so that only stain free officers can frame employees report.
    I wish you all the best and promise to serve you with all of my best.

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  5. Great thoughts, strong words. Hope that IR will shift from age old autocratic leadership (though without much responsibility) to democratic leadership. Wish your works as CRB match your words.

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  6. First of all the system of Indian Railways must be changed. All the credit for good happens taken by Officers but for all bad things blame the supervisors. These type of act demotivate us.

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  7. First of all the system of Indian Railways must be changed. All the credit for good happens taken by Officers but for all bad things blame the supervisors. These type of act demotivate us.

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  8. Congratulations to indian railway as a farsighted visionary like mr lohani come again for its rescue,and hoping for improvement,came to know sir that you r interested in human resources,railway hospitals ,and it's employee well being, many enthusiastic ,dynamic ,skilled and trained surgeons ,gynecologists are there in railways divisional hospital having facility of operation theatres and infrastructure , specialist eager to do the operations in interest of pts and also to save revenue ,but they r discouraged as they have given duty of tender and contract management ,court cases,vehicle management,building management etc,and I m sure none of them in their medical colleges ever heard of these things they do all work in railway hospitals except seeing the pts and gradually there all training ,and skill goes in gutter,genuine pts don't wish to go there as they know drs there is efficient but may be busy in tender opening or busy in sending annual return,so my humble request do something to improve the situation so that specialist drs are not compelled to leave the job for professional satisfaction

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  9. Sir, JE SSE CMA CMS DMS CDMS SE IT are are totally frausteted and lost their Spirit and enthusiasm due to zero career growth in entire service.safery@danger due to Participation in trade unions as group C employees.pl grant group B Gaz to sub-ordinanate Engineers JE SSE CMA CMS DMS CDMS SE IT immediately to boost self confidence

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  10. रेल के अभियन्ताओं को मेरा संदेश ।
    ग्रुप बी के लिए संघर्ष करो ।
    या
    अन्य मौका मिलते ही रेल को छोड़ दो ।
    Er.A.K.TYAGI SG/AIREF
    Posted in his timeline of facebook
    It shows the worst condition of JE SSEs in IR after cancellation of RB letter dated 30.01.17 in favour of TU leaders

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  11. Sir,we never seen like you.your way of doing things in transformation indian railways is appreciated. We je SSE CMA CMS DMS CDMS SE IT are eagerly waiting for group B gaz and promotional prospects from JE to JAG for smooth running of trains and to address the Passenger safety.
    The classification committee period also lapsed on 12.08.18

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