DISCLAIMER: The content of this article is not related to any of the real life characters. This article has been strictly written for reading purpose. It cannot be related to any part of my life in real sense. Absolutely fictitious and ridiculously imaginative. I am NOT responsible for wrong interpretations of this content or any other unwanted perceptions. Read, have fun (if possible), think (if possible) and forget.
September, 28th, 2016
Satz
It is hard to imagine how packed a day has become in life. It is becoming very hard to realize how fast a day goes by and how engrossed my job keeps me in it. Working in a ramp up plant, seldom gives you that personal time that you yearn for. Mentally keeps me occupied almost every second.(Might be a personal problem as well. You never know.) It doesn't offer much of personal space. Nothing much to complain about.
The company has got its own goal of getting to the top of the world. Obviously at an outrageous pace that no damn fellow can ever imagine. That too with minimum resources. It is like the Bangladesh Cricket team. Tigers made out of low investment.
The CEO and other top guys of the company make sure they visit the plant every month. They take reviews about the progress of the plant (Ramp up plant). Even when it is progressing they remind us that we need to progress even more. It is like telling Usain Bolt to run faster (Easier said than done.). They first listen( to presentations, of course). I don't know how, but the CEO and team digests scrap figures, production figures, capacities, budget figures, ramp up plans, machine capabilities, product additions, process data, all given in about 4-5 hours. Genius indeed. They comprehend, take in, process and then give the plant management the taste of their own data.
Then there is the start of the motivation speech (this part is easy to identify. Bosses know when it starts). Sandwich techniques of motivation come out of nowhere. They do a wonderful job of reminding our bosses that we are not working. They team themselves up with our bosses and teach the latter how to extract work from us. They also remind them how we were working and the need for screwing us a bit to reach back to a level more than that. Certain bosses get so reactive that they actually start working. (Note: Life is under jeopardy, when bosses start working.) More "Whys" start popping out. They start to snoop their heads into your work. Those are days that you don't want to live. With a series of "Whys" down the line, the subordinates start believing the fact that they were not working at all. For injecting fresh targets, mind has to be set atone. It has to be made ready and the first stage is creating a havoc in the mind that we are not working. Once this is done growth will come automatically. Good subordinates take it positively push themselves harder towards targets. Put aside their personal life.(Idiots, of course.) Work. Sleep. Run. Repeat. Mental illusion's first stage, a success.
Then there is the start of the motivation speech (this part is easy to identify. Bosses know when it starts). Sandwich techniques of motivation come out of nowhere. They do a wonderful job of reminding our bosses that we are not working. They team themselves up with our bosses and teach the latter how to extract work from us. They also remind them how we were working and the need for screwing us a bit to reach back to a level more than that. Certain bosses get so reactive that they actually start working. (Note: Life is under jeopardy, when bosses start working.) More "Whys" start popping out. They start to snoop their heads into your work. Those are days that you don't want to live. With a series of "Whys" down the line, the subordinates start believing the fact that they were not working at all. For injecting fresh targets, mind has to be set atone. It has to be made ready and the first stage is creating a havoc in the mind that we are not working. Once this is done growth will come automatically. Good subordinates take it positively push themselves harder towards targets. Put aside their personal life.(Idiots, of course.) Work. Sleep. Run. Repeat. Mental illusion's first stage, a success.
The day when the CEO (Head coach of Usain Bolts) comes is the day on which work happens. Especially, most of the civil work gets done in a greenfield project (Height of Extreme running). No time for even the cement to get dry and get its compression strength. (Obviously, it can be fixed the next day. It has got all the time to dry once the fellas are gone. Even the CEO knows it.) Washrooms get fixed. Major breakthroughs("Jugaads") happen in a whisk of time. The plant management arranges for some sort of opening ceremony for the CEO of some random civil work like the canteen, or the gym at the office for that matter. Something for the CEO to be proud of the plant.
The preparation that everybody does in the factory the day before the CEO's visit is indeed one hell of a scene to witness. Japanese techniques(5S, ah read somewhere in Engineering) come in handy. Everybody start to realize what those actually mean. A feeling that comes with it is "how it will be if we do this everyday." Plant becomes absolutely clean. Cleanliness suddenly become Godliness. Everybody works with such energy. They work like they would get a double promotion the next day if they pull off the visit.
Visit days are good in one way. We get parties to attend. (A Party is defined as a reminder from the Head Coach of Usain Bolts that he is going to set new freaky targets for Usain Bolts.) First before the party there is an address by the CEO. Praveen Kumar, a stand up comedian puts it this way. " If you take out four words off the dictionary, no CEO can ever speak. Vision, Growth, Competitive and Strategy. They put 'is, was, and and' in the middle of these four words and call it the vision statement." CEO and team present what was achieved and what was not. Fill our minds with targets, for the next three months, then enjoy the dance and cultural events, present awards and leave for urgent flights. Then the party starts with good exotic dinner, some unnecessary drinks and some DJ on the floor. Loyalty quotient increases to highest levels. You start feeling like you will do anything to achieve the targets so told. Mental illusion's second stage, a success.
With so much of fun on the day of the visit, the next day becomes hell. That's the day when the actual Running starts. The training ground for Usain Bolts. Work. Sleep. Run. Repeat. The whole of the management staff look like they are the rice that gets steamed in the pressure cookers. They fight (almost fight), get horribly reactive towards targets, get absolutely obsessed with the same. They start fighting for micro level things that make them forget the whole context in which they are working. Everybody starts releasing pressure through emotions not seen by themselves before. Meetings get high on stupidity and low on sensibility. Quarrels, difference of opinion all these words pop up. Though people work towards targets and achieve, there is always this unnecessary fighting (well, almost fighting). Blaming and judging the efforts of peers design each other's day. That calls for some leadership and team building training. That happens for some two days in the middle. Investment for cost cutting.
Ultimately, we run like anything towards targets and somehow achieve it. The moment when we achieve is the moment the Head Coach team arrives. Obviously, to make Usain Bolts run faster. They talk about Vision, Competition, Strategy and Run. The vicious cycle continues. Bosses get know how to handle us effectively. We keep on experimenting in finding out how to handle them. They call it experience. We call it skill development.
We follow their footsteps as we move up the ladder. What do we do? We create Usain Bolts who can run for us. We become the Coach of the Usain Bolts. And the saga continues with Four words - Vision, Growth, Competition and Run.
Further for subsiding unwanted and unnecessary emotions after reading this post, please read the DISCLAIMER at the top. Again.
-SATZ
