BY P VENKATESH
Director, Product Division, Maveric Systems
Two years ago, the HR department at Maveric requested senior executives like us to share ‘Teachable Points of View’ learnt in our lives with entry level associates. It set me thinking… and as my mind travelled back in time, I began remembering many a lesson, even some learnt in primary school. In the next few days, they haunted me every now and then; popping up like alerts that keep me rooted to my schedule.
I studied at Kalakshetra, an art school that also had a Montessori division. It had some unusual features – no more than 20 students to a class taught by a single teacher; no text books but only reference books provided by the school; a series of audio and video rooms where educational audio records and films were run on students’ request. Firstly, every student right from the kindergarten level was supposed to learn by himself or herself; in case of any difficulty, he or she could always reach out to the teacher. Second, most resources including the reference books, the audio and video facilities were common to all – some for the class and others for the entire school. You needed to plan and request for them in advance. Third, students were taught to openly acknowledge mistakes made during the week at the Friday evening assembly. Fourth, the students were always asked and encouraged to air their views, including any points of disagreement with the teacher, and have a dialogue to come to an understanding and move on.
Finally, the school had the most loving environment one would ever come across - no one judged the other for their actions or words and everyone made an effort to understand others’ point of view.
When I look back at the challenges I have faced with my peers, colleagues and superiors, I can always trace them to the absence of one or more of the above practices in the true sense. Learning by ourselves, acknowledging mistakes, not being judgmental – all these are life-enhancing skills. They were taught to us during our formative years, without us ever realizing them. These lessons have stayed with me since.
As we advance towards a knowledge-led workplace, these fundamental lessons assume critical importance. The nice things about these are they could be taught just like we learnt in our school. It is up to the leaders to believe in them and practice them so that others can infer, learn and emulate. As more people practise these lessons, the workplace will sport a different but pleasant look.
Feedback: venkateshp@maveric-systems.com
