Towards Creating Inclusive Workplaces

Last Thursday evening, enroute home, I was in a rickshaw, and the driver (presumably in his early 30s), dropped me near my place; I paid him the auto fare, but this gentleman without looking and counting the money simply put it in his pocket.

I insisted upon him to count and said, “दादा, गिन तो लीजिये” (Brother, please count the money); and the driver replied, “जो मेरा है ही नहीं उसको गिनना क्यों!” (This is not mine so there is no need to count); and I was pleasantly surprised with his profound thought; in terms of formal education he may not be highly qualified but for me he was not less than a PhD holder of rarest faculty called wisdom.  

This incident took me back to my childhood days, wherein my mother used to tell us, you have come to this place with empty hands and you will go somewhere from here also with empty hands, so in this interim phase- of coming and leaving this place- why am I running after possessing materialistic things? And, as I reflect on myself and my running- whether for my life, my family, my career- everything starts with me and ends there only. And here is this auto-rickshaw driver –with his profound understanding about his duty, and an indifferent or detached orientation to rewards – to me, he comes so close to my lay understanding of a true KarmaYogi. It seems this angst ridden and rift-driven world is nothing but the outcome of possessing more than we need.

In an organisation context, people are running, constantly competing, sometimes fiercely, using fair and unfair means, to climb the ladder of organisational success. But my professor Dr Bino Paul at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai taught us human race has come this far through cooperation not competition (“The Evolution of Cooperation”, Robert Axelrod)!

And here I could relate to the views of organisation psychologist Adam Grant as expressed by him in his most introspective TedTalk titled “Are you a Giver or Taker?” In an organisation also there are people like this auto-rickshaw driver who are engaged in their work without thinking of achieving a position or power, they keep on helping others- within and outside the team to achieve the targets and complete the assignments, and most of the time their efforts go unnoticed. Custodians of organisations need to identify such individuals; empower and encourage them to keep doing the same and passing the ripple effect. Such ripple effect of helping each other will eventually help organisation to establish camaraderie, team spirit, oneness, shared vision and improved synergy organisation wide. Such altruistic individuals could also help the organisation to bring about the culture of asking for help from supervisors and peers without any hesitations of being judged. This will help in creating the organisation culture wherein people shift from being self-centred to others-centred, and consider the larger good than the individual good. It is easy to label such individuals as ‘not smart’ or ‘not result driven’ – but organisations need to recognise that they too contribute value – their approach is different. And maybe some others – result oriented and smart individuals - can show results only because of these individuals – the silent facilitators. Does it call for reviewing the performance metrics or at least make more inclusive? Does it call for more inclusive workplaces?

Above are my thoughts of the kind of world I would like to live in and trying my mite to create one around me. If you relate to my thoughts, I hope you would also contribute in creating a culture of inclusion around you.  

About the Author:

Author is a lifelong student of human behaviour, leadership and spirituality; aims to bring out the best potential of himself and people around him; author holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.