As elections are happening around India, we are likely to see a change in regime. The existing party could be unseated and another party could form the government.
Historically, in India, this has meant the following:
- the new government will announce that they inherited empty coffers.
- they will tear down all the programs of the earlier government citing bad policy or poor implementation or both.
- they will transfer bureaucrats left, right and center and bring in new ones.
- they will try and ensure that any good memories of the previous dispensation are erased from the minds of the people.
In India, these actions are not necessarily limited to governments. This happens in organizations too after a regime change.
In a Relay Race, each team member participates in only a set part of the race and is then relieved by another member of the team. The successor builds on the accomplishment of the predecessor keeping the overall team’s goal in perspective.
Using the same metaphor, as regimes change, keeping the overall organization in mind, if the successor builds on the accomplishment of the predecessor and if this continues as a culture, the organization stands to hugely benefit in the long run.
However, what we often see is that, as the incumbent takes over, radical (and sometimes, mindless) changes are made too soon to well-established processes, systems, people engagement and culture that could have been the secret sauce of past victories. These victories would have come at the cost of several experiments – some failed, some successful. The current processes and systems would have come up as a result of cumulative learning from such experiments.
While some changes that the incumbent makes could be cosmetic in nature, in most cases, well-proven systems are taken apart and roles and responsibilities of team members redistributed. Wise team members who have been a part of past successes see through this game and re-calibrate their own idea of contribution to the organization. They could go back to securing only pass marks to stay afloat in the system. In a short time, fuses could begin to blow and the organization could retreat to a fire-fighting mode. Many of the past conquests could go in vain.
It is precisely at these points that one gets to know whether the incumbent is building the organization or his resume.
In India, as a people, we are not known to build on the achievements of past regimes. Whether it is the Government or the management of an institution like a school or a Residents Welfare Association or in the field of sports, academia or research, we are known to make light of our predecessor’s achievements and establish that we are God’s gift to humanity.
Building an organization requires one to subsume one’s ego and look at the organization’s interest. It calls for leadership, magnanimity, generosity and grace.
It is quite an attractive proposition to pander to one’s ego.
But then, pandering to the ego is known to be a dangerous thing.
Have you become a subscriber to my newsletter? My subscribers get content that is specially created or curated for them. My e-book, ’31 Ways to Reclaim Your Happiness’ is available free to the subscribers.
Subscribe to my newsletter now. Please enter your details below and sign up:
