- “It gives me a sense of satisfaction that I have created a structure for dealing with issues that I faced.”
- “I can feel the difference between feeling that things will always remain the same and knowing that I am in control of improving my own situation”
- “The successful path that I feel I am currently on is largely due to two things that you helped me with (i) learning to plan my work in a structured and repeatable way, and (ii) taking all of my commitments seriously.”
- “When I spend time with my family now, specially during week-ends, I am mentally present as well. I am not worried about work, because I know precisely what has been done so far and how the plans for the coming two quarters look. My wife, and even my little son, notices the difference.”
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Results
- Hari approached his bosses and sought an appointment from them. During his meeting with his bosses, he did not proffer any excuses for the drop in his performance, but in a matter of fact manner stated areas where his performance was not up to the mark. His bosses were totally disarmed by his honesty and candour even though Hari was stating what they already knew. Thereafter, Hari apologised for his inadequate performance and outlined his plan to get his work “back on rails” and also shared with his bosses a time line for his action plans. Not only did his bosses appreciate the effort that Hari had made, but also offered to support him during his journey back. Happily, for Hari, most of this journey has been completed and his work is appreciated by his bosses. Recently, he was awarded with the “Best Employee for the Quarter” in his business division – which gave Hari immense satisfaction.
- Hari had a frank discussion with his wife and reassured her that he cared deeply for her and her happiness mattered a lot to him. He explained to her that there was need for him to put in extra hours of work to clear the accumulated backlog. He committed to her that he would clear the backlog in a period of three months. However, during this period he would ensure that he did not bring work home at all and devote the week-ends to his family. He did add a caveat, that there might be occasions when emergencies might require him to work on week-ends but promised to keep these to a minimum. For good measure, he quantified it as well, that he would not work more than 10% of the week-ends. Here too, Hari has managed to clear the backlog of work, thereby reducing pressure of work and he has started coming home at a “decent” hour, much to the relief and happiness of his wife.
- Thirdly, Hari had an open, but informal, discussion with his peers within the organisation. He shared that in his effort to help his peers; he had been accepting all requests for assistance. This took up considerable time and was impacting his own deliverables. Hari, placed his cards on the table and said that he would love to continue to help, but there would be occasions when he would not be able to do so. He wanted his peers to appreciate his constraints and that his refusal should not be taken amiss. Hari was keen to ensure that he continued to maintain cordial relationships with his peer group. Most of his peer group were appreciative of the honesty exhibited by Hari and a couple of them admitted that they often “palmed” off their own work to Hari under the guise of seeking help.
- Finally, he made a clean breast to his team and thanked them for their support over the past year and a half, specially when things were going against him and on many occasions he berated his team for no fault of their own. While he apologised for his behaviour he sought their continued support and shared with them his plans to restore the pride and glory their unit had as a top performing unit. Hari’s biggest win was when two of his subordinates, who had put in a request for a transfer out of his unit, withdrew their requests.
Apart from seeing a smile of satisfaction and peace on Hari’s face, I felt very happy when Hari’s wife met me recently, hugged me and thanked me “for saving her marriage”.