There is a beautiful story called "Parable
of the Oranges" by Randall Ridd, who is a second counselor in the
Young Men General Presidency. I stumbled across his story recently, and it
resonated very well into how managers should work through with their teams to
get more harmonious performance, more engaging ways of looking at their work,
and more stimulation to see how change can make a difference in their lives at
work.
There was a young man, let's call him
Santhosh, who had ambitions to work for a great well know organization. After a
tortuous round of selection, he made it as a trainee into the organization.
Then he turned his ambition to his next goal—a supervisor position that would
afford him even greater prestige and more pay and perks. He worked very hard,
competed for his tasks on time, delivered on every goal the numbers he was
challenged with. He came in early some mornings and stayed late so the bosses
would see him putting in long hours.
When in a few years a position for supervisor came up he was shocked his name was not considered and another
colleague who joined just six months ago was chosen. He went up to the manager
with a feeling of being a victim of the system that did not recognize his good
work.
He wanted to know why he was not promoted
even though he worked so hard. He felt he was a victim of the system, a victim
of situational context, and receiver of the raw end of the deal.
The manager said, “I will not give you an
answer but help you find one. If you don't mind, would you go to the store and
buy some oranges? My wife needs them.
Santhosh agreed and went to the store.
When he returned, the manager asked, “What kind of oranges did you buy?”
“I don’t know,” said Santhosh. “You just
said to buy oranges, and these are oranges. Here they are.” “How much did they
cost?” the manager asked.
“Well, I’m not sure,” was the reply. “You
gave me 100 Rupees. I have the receipt and the exact change.
“Thank you,” said the manager. “Now,
please have a seat and pay careful attention.”
Then the manager called in Mohan had
received the promotion and asked him to do the same job. He readily agreed and
went to the store.
When he returned, the manager asked,
“What kind of oranges did you buy?”
“Well,” Mohan replied, “the store had
many varieties—there were navel oranges, Valencia oranges, Nagpur Oranges, Coorg
Oranges and Darjeeling Oranges... apart from many others, and I didn’t know which
kind to buy. But I remembered you said your wife needed the oranges, so I
called her. She said she was having a party and that she was going to make
orange juice. So I asked the grocer which of all these oranges would make the
best orange juice. He said the Valencia orange was full of very sweet juice, so
that’s what I bought. I dropped them by your home on my way back to the office.
Your wife was very pleased.”
“How much did they cost?” the boss asked.
“Well, that was another problem. I didn’t
know how many to buy, so I once again called your wife and asked her how many
guests she was expecting. She said 20. I asked the grocer how many oranges
would be needed to make juice for 20 people, and it was a lot. So, I asked the
grocer if he could give me a quantity discount, and he did! These oranges
normally cost 3 Rs, but I paid only 1 Rupee. Here is your change and the
receipt after I purchased 80 oranges for making the juice needed for about 20
people.”
The boss smiled and said, “Thank you; you
may go now Mohan.”
He looked over to Santhosh who had been
watching. The young man stood up, slumped his shoulders, and said, “I see what
you mean,” as he walked dejectedly out of the office.
What was the difference between Santhosh
and Mohan? They were both asked to buy oranges, and they did. You might say
that Mohan went the extra mile, or one was more efficient, or one paid more
attention to detail. But the most important difference had to do with real
intent and substantive output that was expected. Santhosh was a man motivated
by money, position, and prestige. Mohan was driven by an intense desire to
please his employer and an inner commitment to be the best employee he could
possibly be—and the outcome was obvious.
As leaders and managers, it is important
to ensure that people like Santhosh don't feel they are victims of the system.
They do so because they have not understood the context in which they play.
Managers can play their part by making people understand how they want them to
go where they want them. This means clarifying goals, providing some agreed
approaches, and providing interim feedback.
Often we hear that people feel the
performance management system does not do a good job of making people
understand why they are where they are. It is all about "clarifying the
nature of intent" and making people understand the difference between the
"content delivered" and "intent in what is being done" the
difference between what is to be delivered and how it is to be delivered.
This means that you don't need to manage
the work. you need to manage the understanding, ......the value of the intent, and............ the impact it has on the outcome delivered through the work.
That will ensure employees get to feel the system is fair and would make
attempts to design meaning in their work lives. Create Victors ... Not Victims.
