Judaism and Israel have always cultivated, “a culture of doubt and argument, an open-ended game of interpretations, counter-interpretations, reinterpretations, opposing interpretations. From the very beginning of the existence of the Jewish civilization, it was recognized by its argumentativeness.” – Quote from the book “Start-up Nation”
Ofcourse, I agree that open minded questions encourage lot of interpretations and birth of new ways of doing things; should we call innovation at an incremental level. I sometimes wonder looking at the organization structure and the level of hierarchy in the existing Indian business environment. People say “I follow an open-door policy”; I take that as he will step on us anytime for work. Now, I have worked on a manufacturing concern for a very short duration, and then in a typical IT development center for couple of years and in a research organization for more than a year. I feel that manufacturing is typical hierarchical structure while IT organization is big enough to adopt the Chutzpah culture. Can we say that this Israeli culture is more suited for smaller organization or in a typical high-end research oriented setup? I am not sure but we always have ways to adopt bits and pieces of good style for our own good.
In the traditional Indian family setup, elders are treated with more respect and withholding questions that undermine their superiority within the family. I have seen it myself and undergone the scenes when I was young. Situations have changed but the mindset hasn't completely. Culture of questioning is very vital for an individual growth and then to the larger audience such as organizations or teams. I find this completely lacking in the work environment. I, myself, am a failure of this mindset. Nevertheless, I have questioned myself with the task assigned to know what the outcome of the task should look like. I find the participation is totally lacking and taking things for granted has en-rooted deeply. I blame myself and the organization for the crippled environment and stuck to the same level of doing things. Bestowing the best with gifts and prizes is not really a health sign of encouraging members within the organization and without making it a challenging and open environment is a half-hearted attempt per se. Even for a dullest of jobs, there is always way of making it better. When I and my friends were in bench couple of years back, we used to challenge ourselves writing scripts to automate process. So, next time your time for setting up the initial environment for running codes is reduced. We also learnt from each other on the way. We used to take certification environments like there is no tomorrow and discuss on the same. Now, setting the level of competitive mindset without stamp footing on the minds of members is vital for an organization to showcase a positive environment.
Now, is it difficult for such an environment considering Indian culture besides knowledge based and back office kind of work. Thomas A. Edison once quoted, “There is always a better way.” I believe there is always a better way when we set our minds on it. It could probably start with a smaller team. The manager is a driver who has the keys and ability to start an open-minded environment within his team. Indians are more prone to ego clashes (including myself) and a disdainful behavior That’s a worrisome scenario individually and to the organization. It hampers the growth of both, a lose-lose situation. It is on the onus of the manager or a team lead to lead by example and he himself participating actively and encouraging people without ruffling feathers with individuals. Questioning someone ideas is the best way to make it solid and better. Even for a simple task, have a small discussion to know if someone has a better way of doing things. If someone is able to think differently and setting a slow precedent which others might also be tempted. If manager is not able to spend enough time with the team then an Israeli would have thrown him out which is both a stimulant and sense of duty creeping in the mind. An open environment with a thoughtful process may change things for better; a better workplace and a better team. It will not be a runaway hit on the initial attempts but making effort is nevertheless innocuous.
Hope for Good.
