Fostering Values

I have heard it many times, when will the time of respect, morals, and values be back? Things are changing at a fast pace; people want instant gratification. Everyone is in a race long enough for 1000 years to reach somewhere, at any cost, in a short lifespan of 70-80 years. So, what’s the solution and how did people foster goodness and values in the past? This question makes me think of a real-life story of mine, so here is the story:

I remember a scene from my childhood when I was about 7 years old. One day, I was not feeling well and didn’t go to school and stayed home with my mother. At around 10am, I heard a knock at the door. My mother went to open the door and I rushed to a window to see who is there.

I saw a man standing at the door asking for work. He seemed in deep pain of poverty, but he was asking for work rather than begging. He had a sickle in his hand and was asking if he can trim the fence of our front yard. He politely said, he badly needs work to put some food on the table for his family.

I knew we had our front yard fence trimmed just 2 days ago. So, I kept watching what my mother will do in this situation.

She looked at him and admired his self-respect because he was asking for work rather than just begging for money. She could have given him money without asking for him to do anything, but she didn’t want to hurt his self-esteem. She said, fine trim it a little bit from the top. The man became happy and started the work. I saw my mother went to the kitchen and started preparing something. When the man was done with his work, she served him fresh food and paid him the money also that he asked for his service.

That poor man left with food in his stomach and happiness on his face.

I didn’t go to school that day, but I learned a beautiful lesson at home by just observing the kindness of my mother. I learned how to treat people with respect and care. She allowed him to trim the fence because she didn’t want to take away his self-respect/dignity from him. She fostered something in that man’s character and her son (me) also.

She fostered values in me on that day without saying a word to me. The real value system doesn’t work by yelling at people do this and do that, it works by being an example of it.

The same concept is applicable in our business world as well.

Each person at work is sitting at a window like the kid in the above story watching others, and at the same time, each person is also acting like the mother being watched by others. Here are a few examples of good values/behavior at work where both characters are present:

• A person handling a crucial situation in a meeting in a calm and respectful manner. (Remember, other attendees are watching your behavior)
• Offering help to a co-worker who is overly burdened.
• Saying hello to others with a polite smile even if they don’t work in your department. (Smile is contagious - If you smile at someone, they will smile back at you almost like a reflex action)
• When someone approaches you with a silly problem and you do not respond with a despising attitude (E.g. This is too simple! You don’t even know this!). Rather, you listen to the problem carefully and explain the solution very respectfully without showing that it was too easy/silly.
• If you claim you believe in work/life balance, then you implement it first. So that, others feel comfortable implementing it as well and not considering that as a performance issue.
• You see someone carrying a lot of stuff and struggling to open a door, you go and open the door for them. (I assure you, that person will do the same for others.)

The above are just a few examples of where others are watching us and we mold their behavior without knowing it.

So next time, when you react to a situation, remember that you are molding someone’s behavior. At least, we can try to make a difference by taking baby steps.

Let’s make this world a better place together by fostering one good action at a time! ??

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.