Change Management

During our school days, we learnt about Inertia.. There is an Inertia of Motion as well as Inertia of Rest. So, whenever something is in motion, it takes an extra amount of an effort to bring the object to rest and also in case some object is in the state of rest, we need to apply extra pressure to make it moving but once it starts moving, less pressure / force is required to keep it moving. These laws of Inertia, clearly tells us about the Nature's resistance to Change.

We as humans follow the same laws of Nature, i.e., Resistance to Change. When we start our career, we try to find jobs based on our knowledge and available opportunities. We try to adapt to the existing culture of the organisation we join. We always try to put in extra efforts to get noticed.. get appreciated and try to move up the ladder in the organization chart. We slowly develop the habit of following the culture set by the Management Team. In the initial stages, we always try to adjust and never raise questions about the culture or try to change the culture.. May be we do not have the "say" and we just try to be the integral part of the existing set of environment.. to be "one" of them.

Everything goes well, till sometimes the management tries to bring in a different set of rules.. a different environment.. a different culture. The reasons for doing the same can be anything.. may be a need to grow more.. or to grow faster.. to even a change in the Management.. it can be anything.. 

Even the talk of all such changes, start the bouts of criticism.. rounds of rumors . rounds of management's efficiency, knowledge, over confidence,.. The talk of the town is more negative then positive. A very few people accept the change easily, that's Natural, that's what Nature teaches us.. Inertia..

In my opinion, such "Change Management" is a crucial skill set for any Leader. The individual or the set of individuals who drive such change in culture should also possess a few more skill sets, like - Patience, skill to Guide Teams, give Directions, skill to motivate teams to accept change, skill to even direct the Talks making rounds in the town in a positive direction. 

Like when we drive a car, we have a set of Gears. Low Gears to start with.. when force/torque required is much more and then higher gears and glide mode to continue the journey with low force/torque requirement achieving good fuel efficiency while speed is maintained. In case car needs to be stopped or need to turn in a different direction, car has to be slowed down with shift to lower gear and then changing the direction in the slow speed and then slowly increasing the speed with movement to higher gears and coming back to same speed without wasting any time..

We do manage Car in our daily life easily, whatever be the Traffic condition and n number of twists n turns. Why not apply the same logic to our Life.. The change of direction in case of a car can be considered as a Good Example of Change Management. Before changing direction, car slows down.. may be in similar fashion while managing Change in our Life, we should slow down slightly to add More Control, More Focus. Moving to a low gear implies get ready to put in extra efforts, more torque.. take the turn slowly implies never force the change in haste, always go slow.. in a controlled speed. After the change of directions, start changing lanes cautiously. In same fashion, once any change in Life occurs, move cautiously, understand the implications.. understand the environment around and once you are confident then start increasing the speed. The Increase in the speed do require a few more shift in the gears, a greater set of efforts and within no time.. you are back to normal speed.. i.e, the Change has happened successfully.

Slow Speed, greater efforts, caution, understanding limitation, moving forward as per the ambient conditions can easily help anyone to Manage Changes in Life.. its worth trying than resisting the Change.. resisting the Growth.. Do it.. n.. Enjoy the Life!!!

India Vs Pakistan - Is it a Proxy War?

Last week was full of News articles about How an Indian prisoner was beaten up at Pakistan High Security Prison, went into Coma and finally lost his Life..

The Indian prisoner in Question was Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Bhikiwind, a small village in Punjab, near Indo-Pak border. He was caught by Pakistani Authorities at the border and charged for Terrorist activities and branded as a Spy for the Indian Govt. As per his statement, he just wandered into porous Pakistan Territory in a drunken state..

Whatever may be the truth but he spent almost 23 years in Jail, supposed to be hanged, somehow got reprieve from Pakistan Govt.. Everyone tried hard but could not bring him back to India alive.. 

Everyone is raising question now that how a High Value prisoner can be beaten up easily without the involvement of Authorities.. no one will be able to find that truth..

If we look at the background, both India and Pakistan started at the same time, as these two nations were created by Britishers at the time of Independence. For many it was Independence but many remember the time as "Partition".. It was like division of property between two siblings when they don't want to live together. This is the usual practice, followed still today, in our part of the World.. Such divisions, happen to satisfy the demands of all the siblings involved, everyone wants a fair share of the property and wealth.. At the time, property was India and the siblings fighting to get the fair piece were Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mohd Ali Jinnah.. and so Britishers divided the nation in two parts - India for Jawahar Lal Nehru and Pakistan for Mohd Ali Jinnah. To justify the division, Religion was used as an excuse.. what followed was History..  India declared themselves as a nation with free choice to follow any Religion but Pakistan declared themselves as a Muslim nation. India declared that whosoever wants to live at India, can do so and whosoever wants to move to Pakistan can wish to do the same.. Pakistan declared that anyone wants to live at Pakistan must gets converted to Muslim Religion and that single announcement ruined the lives of millions of Hindus living at Punjab (portion which went to Pakistan). In fact, Punjab bore the maximum brunt of the partition as it got divided into two - one in India and other at Pakistan. Many Hindus have to rush to Indian territories, to save their lives, leaving behind all their wealth and businesses. Many lost their lives, during the transition, due to religious clashes.. In all, it was a setback for both the nations, citizens on both sides of the border got hurt, lost their lives, businesses n near n dear ones.. unforgettable moments..

Now, after 65 years of partition, if someone compares India and Pakistan, these two nations are absolutely poles apart in their standing on World Forum, in terms of Growth, Industrialization, Infrastructure, Education..almost everything.. India on one hand moved ahead with policies of Growth, with an eye on future but Pakistan stood firm on bitterness about what it could not get during Partition and tried to build a different nation than India. They somehow depended more on religion than on growth strategies, which pushed them more n more towards fundamentalism & hard-line aspects of religion.. In fact, the people in Power, used Religion as a medium to increase the hatred against India.. in almost all forums..

India and Pakistan went to war, many times, officially or unofficially, sometimes in direct confrontation or sometimes through other routes but Pakistan never succeeded in winning the War. So, Pakistan started Proxy war, by using other channels, like promoting terrorist activities and Jehadi elements n many other means.. Everyone understands that this Proxy War is between the Governments and not between the people of these two nations.. Somehow the people in heart remained as siblings of same parent. They still respect each other.. We love Pakistan's Sufi singers and they love all our Bollywood movies.. We do always love to fight on Cricket field but the competitiveness of both teams creates an atmosphere to be remembered, to be cherished.. we both love our Cricket and its icons.. Sachin Tendulkar, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Zaheer Abbas, Sunil Gavaskar, Wasim Akram, ... all looks part of the same team. Lahore and Karachi are known for their cuisines, mainly Mutton dishes.. In fact, I was at Singapore 10 days back and I found out a small Pakistani Restaurant in a Food Court in Tekka Market.. the Mutton Curry was so delicious.. that I visited that restaurant 3 times during my 5 days stay.. 

I had the opportunity of staying with Pakistani guys for almost one and a half years at Saudi Arabia. I used to work there at that time and I was the only Indian in a group of Pakistani Technicians.. no one can believe that I learnt Punjabi, which is my mother tongue while living at Saudi Arabia with Pakistani guys. I am born and brought up at Delhi, which is a cosmopolitan city and so was never exposed to Punjabi language except for a few days of the year when we used to go to our parental house at Punjab.. but at Saudi Arabia, with Pakistanis, I was speaking Punjabi most of the time. I realized that the language, the culture, the human Values are still the same at both ends of the borders but its the involvement of Government agencies which push us apart and try to create a state of War.. although a Proxy one..

In my opinion, people to people contact should increase and the agencies at both ends should try to somehow end this Proxy war, so that everyone can focus on growth rather than defeating the other party n live harmoniously like good siblings.. live n let others live.. n let others Enjoy the Life..