Saturday, October 14, 2017

Animal Instincts I - The Beast Within

Animal Instincts

The Sales Manager ended the presentation with a small clipping of an animal video for a message of being strong,  focused and all good things.

It works.  Telling them that they are the lions and tigers definitely motivates them to be aggressive. 

We have a lot to learn from animal kingdom but this is definitely not one of them.  Tribal communities have been using these animal instincts.  Native American cultures used wolves.  Egyptian and Indian cultures use references to lions for bravery.  Lions, tigers, and wolves do trigger an effective emotion required to win, protect, unify etc.

But human race progressed not because of these emotions.  Humans could empathize, cooperate better than animals.  Humans' ability to accept differences is the biggest skill that drove the civilizations ahead.  Humans could also organize themselves better.  Sure, lions fight ferociously, but have you ever heard of peasant elephant or a priest wolf!

Tigers are considered to be doing well if each tiger gets about 15-20 square kilometers.  On the contrary, humans prosper in a thickly populated area, simply because of their above-mentioned abilities.

If a team believes that they have the animal instincts towards their goal, the day is not far off when those instincts overtake human skills.

An army that modeled itself after an animal ended up killing its own people just before it got defeated by their enemy.

Animal Instinct II - My Territory

Animal Instincts II - My Territory

I felt it was colder inside Kens' office than the outside on an autumn morning in a Boston suburb.  He had his reasons.  The company was trying to recover from a bad year, layoffs and extended working hours for the remaining staff.  Nothing would rattle him more than an Indian techie with equal experience in his office.  Ken tried to be nice, explained what he was working on. 

I was there to help them plan the next year's goals for the IT organization.  The management was expecting a better year, began outsourcing work to India to save on costs and was doing everything to recover to a healthy operation.

After a half hour meeting with Ken, I returned to my seat, pondered over the problem he was working on and read a few articles that could solve Ken's issue.  I went back and explained how he could design the solution based on what I had just read.

That changed the mood.  Ken opened up, talked about the company, his bosses, family, etc.  We continued a professional partnership for a few more years.  On hindsight, I can't say I sensed his insecurity but did what comes to me naturally, problem-solving.

Ken wasn't an isolated case.  We come across this insecurity all the time.  When a new member joins a team, it takes a lot of effort - from both the sides, to gel in and work together.  The difficulty increases with the experience of the new member.  A fresh graduate may find it easy to fit in than a seasoned manager, just like a puppy getting accepted into a pack of street dogs.  A house dog faces hostile barking and growling for months after a move.

Human advancements have broken a lot of natural barriers for habitat.  So, we stopped growling at others - well, almost. 

Similarly, organizations aren't limited by their geography or available capital.  They can grow far beyond what its employees can imagine.  But, it is a challenge for them to assimilate people at various levels.  In M&As, the cooperation from the existing staff is often bought.  A new member just means that there is more work to be done and more money to be earned.  As a company expands, it is the responsibility of the top management to be sensitive to this animal instinct.   It needs to remind its people that it is no more a forest and we can naturally walk on two legs and use the arms to welcome the new.

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