Author: S Ramesh Shankar

Born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India, I have been brought up in different parts of India. Graduate in chemistry and post graduate in personnel management and industrial relations. Have been a HR practitioner for 38 years in the industry and have experience in working in steel , automobiles, FMCG and engineering industry. Was head of HR for Siemens in South Asia based out of Mumbai till March 2019. Currently founded hrishti - joy forever, a social enterprise to give back to society and work as Chief Joy Officer.

Virtual versus Real World


Today most of our life is virtual. We spend more time with our mobile phones than even with our near and dear ones. I sometimes wonder if this is good or bad. This question has been asked by one of my colleagues from Germany too. Technology has helped us bridge people across the world and there is no doubt that is is efficient and cost effective. Now, let us try to understand whether this is positive or otherwise.

I remember an incident, which happened in my life almost three decades back. I used to work in the steel plant. We did not have computers in those days at work. We used to mostly communicate by writing notes to each other on paper. Once I wrote a long and creative note to my colleague as I had a different view point on a work related issue. We exchanged a few notes between us till we were both summoned by our HR head. We thought he was impressed with our writing skills. But we were in for a surprise.

Our boss enquired whether we both sat in the same office on the same floor. After confirming that he stated that he had an advice for us. He said that this is the last time he wanted to see a note exchanged between us on any work conflict. He said since both of you sit on the same floor, you should, as the first step walk across and talk to each other and resolve issues on any subject. In case, you cannot do that since you sit in different office, he said, you can pick up the phone and talk to each other and settle the matter. In case, you cannot talk to each other since you are in different cities or due to any other reason, you may think of writing a note to each other. This was a great lesson for life. I try to follow it even today and encourage my team to do so.

This was a learning for a life time. He explained that the best way to interact with another individual at work or outside is face to face. The next best was on phone and the least effective could be through written notes. He further made us realize how face to face communication makes us understand each other’s emotions and hence we empathize better. In case of phone, there is an opportunity to clarify doubts verbally although non verbal messages cannot be seen. However in written communication, we can neither feel the emotions nor see the expressions. It could be the least preferred option and used only when there is no better option available to us.

In today’s world, most of our interactions are in the virtual world. While it is efficient and effective in terms of reach and cost, it may not be real sometimes. For eg, while we may all have hundreds of friends on Facebook and whatsapp online, we may not get many people to visit us, when we are hospitalised or we are in a crisis at home. While we may receive get well messages online, we may not feel cared as much as when our friends visit us in person during such times.

This example illustrates that the positive of the virtual world is also its speed. However, it does not help us exchange feelings. As human beings, we are born with emotions and we all have emotional needs in all our relationships. Hence, the learning is that we have to find the right balance between the real and the virtual world. While virtual is fast and cheap, it is generally emotion less.

We may effectively use the virtual world to stay connected but we should not forget to meet and greet people around us every day whenever it is feasible as exchange of emotions are the bedrock of any relationship and no emoticons can substitute it.

S Ramesh Shankar

 

My concept of freedom


All of us are born free.  We have our own concept of freedom.  This concept evolves as we grow in life.  I am lucky to be born in the world’s largest democracy – India.  I am proud to be an Indian and have enjoyed this freedom throughout my lifetime. My concept of freedom is the ability to choose and do anything of my choice without any restrictions.  The Constitution of India bestows fundamental rights, which are absolute.  We do have reasonable restrictions, which possibly are required to ensure that we do not do anything against the interest of the state.

Let me try to illustrate what freedom means to me and how my beloved country has enabled it to flourish.  I have the freedom to be myself.  I can choose my education, my religion, my place of stay and my way of living.  I can move across the country without any restrictions and express my opinion on any subject without any fear.

In my view, we need to go much beyond this and practise freedom in our daily lives.  Let us start with our family.  Do we give equal opportunities for our children – daughter or son.  They should be able to choose what they want to study and what they want to do in life.  We should not preach freedom of expression around the world and restrict freedom within our own family precincts.

Let us move to the work place.  Do we empower our teams ?  Do my team members practise what their passion is ?  Can they independently give their views on any subject without fear of consequences.  Are they able to listen to their heart and decide independently what is in the best interest of the organisation.

The same is true for society.  All of us have the freedom to participate and express ourselves on any subject.  We can agree or disagree with the views of the government.  We can influence the way the governments decides through our elected representatives and media(including social media). The media is independent and can play a very important role in influencing public opinion. One important thing to remember is that we should never cross the line.  We have a duty along with the freedom, which we enjoy.  Sometimes as individuals and even as media we tend to misuse this freedom.  In my view as citizens we have a duty to ensure that neither individuals nor institutions misuse this freedom.  Just as we have the choice to elect or reject a elected representative to the state or the centre, we have the duty to ignore and castigate individuals or organisations, which work against the interest of the state.

Today I am proud to be an Indian.  I am grateful to this great nation for giving me this “Joy of freedom”.  India may not be the most developed nation in term of physical wealth but it is one of the most developed in terms of emotional and spiritual well being.  We need to respect it, preserve it and nurture it so that our future generations are gifted with a happier nation than we have inherited.

One of my German colleagues shared a quote, which said – “In everything in life, we need to start with enthuisiasm and end with discipline”.  There cannot be a better way to celebrate India’s freedom.  Let us create more enthuisiasm in everything we do but let us not forget the discipline, which has to go with enthuisiasm to make India the greatest and happiest nation in the world.

Jai Hind.

S Ramesh Shankar

Emotional Disability

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What is disability ?

Not being able to do something due to some reason may be defined as “Disability” in my books. Many a time we restrict disabilities to physical ones. In today’s complex world, most of the disabilities are mental or emotional. Physical disability could be due to genetic reasons or due to accidents and so can mental disability be. In today’s complex world, with all the technologies at our command people find it easier to deal with physical disability but find it more challenging to deal with mental or emotional disabilities.

As parents, teachers and managers we find it difficult to identify and deal with these disabilities. Let us start at home. As parents, we do not recognise the stress and strain our kids undergo today and their limited ability to deal with the same. Many a time, we deal with such issues only when it manifests itself in the form of a physical or mental disease.

Similarly, our teachers are finding it difficult to deal with the emotional needs of their students. Most of the time teachers are not able to spot the emotional trauma of students due to the competitive landscape of the academic world today. By the time, it is spotted, it could be too late.

The workplace is no different. The manager has to deal with employees of multiple hues. Although there is more technology to enable relationships and networking at the work place, we find that technology is not able to deal with conflicts and emotional stress. Thus managers, who fail to sense emotional discomfort amongst their team members are not able to provide the necessary support.

All this means that as parents, teachers and managers, we have an additional responsibility today. We have to be better listeners and proactive in dealing with our kids, students and team members. We should be able to sense any emotional strain in our wards much before it manifests itself as a disease and provide the necessary emotional support so that the younger generation can cope with this better.

Today, many people in the world feel lonely in spite of hundreds of friends on social media. We have a duty to bridge the gap between the virtual affection bestowed by friends and well wishers and the real needs of love and care of our new generation.

S Ramesh Shankar